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Innovative Interdisciplinary Environmental Research Project to Improve Water Quality Receives Major Grant

Brian Eisenhauer, Associate Director of the Center for the Environment and Assistant Professor of Sociology and a team of other researchers from universities throughout New England have received $480,000 in funding from the US Department of Agriculture Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service for a project called “Changing Homeowner’s Lawn Care Behavior to Reduce Nutrient Runoff in New England’s Urbanizing Watersheds.” Homeowners often unknowingly create environmental problems in their own backyards through their lawn care. Lawn fertilizers add nutrients to the environment and sometimes these nutrients run off site and have unintended consequences. As New England has become more urbanized, there has been an increase in nutrients in surface and ground water, which, in part, come from yard fertilizers.  

This integrated project will apply environmental and behavioral research results to efforts by Cooperative Extension offices to reduce the application of excess nutrients by homeowners in targeted, urbanizing neighborhoods throughout New England. The ultimate goal is to protect surface and groundwater quality. This project is innovative in that it will truly merge social science, environmental science, and educational outreach involving citizens to educate people about their behavior in their own yards and teach future scientists and outreach professionals about the confluence of social and environmental sciences. It is also innovative in that the pilot study areas will represent an entire region and staff from six different institutions.

Brian is partnering with researchers at the Universities of New Hampshire, Maine, Vermont, Connecticut, and Rhode Island and will be leading the social research effort. A significant portion of the budget is allocated for social science research and student support at Plymouth State University. Brian Gagnon, a graduate student in the Center for the Environment’s MS in Environmental Science and Policy program, and undergraduate students will be assisting with the research.