A survey sent out by the Friends of the J.

Monday, October 16, 2000

A survey sent out by the Friends of the J.C. Hormel Nature Center yielded some surprising and some not-so-surprising results. It depends on where the survey went.

On the Austin Daily Herald’s Web site – survey says … don’t expand the nature center, its staff or its programming.

Mailed-in responses from Friends members, Herald and Mower County Shopper readers and visitors to the Nature Center – survey says … yes, more is better.

Friends President Merlene Stiles said she was pleased with the honesty of the replies.

"On the Internet poll, three-fourths of the people who responded said they had never attended a program at the nature center, and three-fourths said they didn’t want any expansion. It makes sense that they don’t want expansion if they’ve never been here."

Overall, Friends board members were pleased with the results, which included a 25 percent response rate from Friends members, considered a good response rate. Stiles said this is the first time the Friends have looked at developing a sort of strategic plan, and the survey is one of the first steps toward doing that.

"Originally we were only going to send the survey to our membership, but one of the board members suggested we open it up to anyone who would like to comment, an idea we all supported," Stiles said. "The reason we did the survey, though, was to know how our membership feels as far as a future direction for the nature center. I feel like we got that – and the comments we got also were really interesting – both the negative and positive."

Board member Dick Smaby questioned the reliability of the Internet poll, which elicited 280 responses to a short form of the survey, because there is no way of knowing where the responses came from. Although the system will only allow one vote per Internet account, it does not track where the votes come from.

"I think the surveys that were mailed in we got a good return on and a very positive response," Smaby said.

Forty-nine out of the 55 Friends members who responded to the survey said they thought more land should be acquired for the nature center, 18 wanted expansion to the north, nine to the west, seven to the east and 33 in all directions.

Support for hiring another naturalist and increasing programming opportunities was equally strong among Friends members, with 46 out of 49 voting for increased programming and 45 out of 53 who answered the question voting to hire another naturalist.

Replies from visitors to the nature center and Herald and Mower County Shopper readers were similar, with visitors voting 18-0 in favor of acquiring more land and newspaper readers voting 26-6 on the same question. Both also supported more programming and hiring another naturalist or intern.

While Stiles is excited about the responses, she admitted that the ultimate decision about programming at the nature center is the staff’s, and they ultimately answer to the city Park and Recreation Board.

"We’re there to provide extra money for programs, volunteer and buy the extra things that might be needed at the nature center," Stiles said. "The survey is a part of something new for us, we want to set some goals and start planning for the future of the nature center and the Friends organization. More fund raising might be in our future."

Stiles said she plans to mail out the tabulated responses to Friends members at the end of this month and it also will be on the agenda for the Friends’ Nov. 20 meeting. Anyone interested in knowing more about the survey or the Friends organization may call Stiles at 433-7527.