Preaching to the converted? Designing wildlife gardening programs to engage the unengaged

ABSTRACT

If wildlife gardening programs wish to maximize their contribution to the biodiversity of their area, they need to be recruiting individuals who would not have undertaken wildlife activities of their own accord. This study sought to assess which program features equate to the most success in recruiting previously unengaged members. Providing site assessments and native/indigenous plants or vouchers to members were features shown to increase the likelihood of recruiting individuals who were not planning on creating a wildlife garden; however, these are not currently recruiting unengaged participants on a large scale and there is a need to develop other strategies to attract more previously unengaged individuals to the wildlife gardening cause.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge the wildlife gardening programs and their members who participated in this research.

Funding

This research was funded by the School of Life and Environmental Sciences at Deakin University and was approved by the Deakin University Ethics Committee (Ref. No. 2010–216).