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<br />Page 21 of 24 <br /> <br />planting of the trees in the restoration field. We host nearly 50 <br />volunteer workdays each year to maintain the ecological and <br />recreational open spaces within our watershed and this project will be <br />the focus for the timeframe of this project. Lastly, we plan to <br />continually communicate with our community through social media, <br />newsletters, and events held at the Confluence. <br />35. How will you measure the <br />success of that engagement or <br />educational effort? <br />We track the number of visitors to the Confluence with a car counter <br />and the number of program participants with attendance. We will <br />measure success with increases in visitation during and after the <br />establishment of these new habitats. We track the amount of <br />engagement with our social posts and links in e-newsletters and open <br />rates. We track other community engagement by number and <br />community type. We will measure success by increases in these types <br />of engagement. Lastly, we will qualitatively measure the success of our <br />programming around these new habitats with surveys to our program <br />participants. <br />To assess the effectiveness of our restoration efforts in creating <br />habitat, we will use observations, particularly of birds and insects, on <br />iNaturalist and eBird. These observations contribute to a species <br />inventory for the Confluence Natural Area, and we can use changes in <br />this inventory over time to identify increases in populations of species <br />which rely on the new habitats created by this project. <br />In addition, we can monitor the health of the restored ecosystems to <br />verify that they are successfully sequestering carbon. For the <br />reforestation site, this will involve assessment of the growth of the <br />planted trees, as well as any “volunteer” seedlings from the <br />surrounding forest. For the prairie site, this will involve monitoring <br />plant diversity and abundance to ensure that the cycles of growth <br />among prairie plants are functioning as expected. <br />36. Please describe any other <br />aspect of your project that is <br />relevant to the amount, or <br />quality, or length of <br />engagement and/or education <br />that your project will produce. <br />Educational programming will include the benefits of these habitats on <br />climate resilience, carbon sequestration, and species diversity and <br />abundance. We will incorporate the historical and cultural uses of <br />these habitats, and we hope to do that in partnership with the <br />Occaneechi Band of the Saponi Nation. Programming will include how <br />these rich habitats not only have ecological benefits but economic <br />benefits. For all our programs, we work to reach diverse communities <br />to ensure equity and inclusion. <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />Docusign Envelope ID: 044C3299-6F90-4782-B8F5-C4A7339F0897