Author: Michael Curtis

Introduction

The biological sciences were not always on my radar. I have an associate's degree in business in information technology and a bachelor's degree in management. In 2015, I purchased my first home in Millersport, OH, a village that borders Buckeye Lake State Park. During this time, the northern dam of the lake was being replaced, which meant the lake had to be drained and many businesses lost revenue. Because people were not coming to the lake, housing values plummeted, and the park was not being utilized to its full potential for enjoyment by the public (“Buckeye Lake Reopens,” 2017). While the lake was drained, my daughter was born. We spent many hours reading Zoobooks and making trips to the zoo when she was a toddler. As the lake returned to its normal state, we spent more time exploring the various recreational areas and learning more about the ecosystem. During this time, I decided to pursue a Master of Arts in Biology as part of Project Dragonfly at Miami University. I enrolled in the AIP program at the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Gardens in 2022. 

As the number of visitors to Buckeye Lake returned to normal, one thing became noticeable when visiting the lake and its greenspaces: the amount of litter left behind. When people see litter, it creates a sense of unease, projects neglectfulness, and can be dangerous (De Veer et al., 2022). Excess litter defeats the purpose of having a greenspace. Greenspaces can improve people’s mental health and encourage people to exercise. Rapid urbanization makes these spaces more important than ever (Amano et al., 2018). When items like glass bottles and aluminum cans are discarded, these can become breeding grounds for mosquitos, or if broken or shredded they can cut pets and people (Kolenda et al., 2022). When people litter cigarette butts, they may not even realize that they are poisoning the ground and water with items that are non-biodegradable and/or can potentially be consumed by wildlife (Yang et al., 2024). Project Dragonfly inspired me to come up with a way to reduce the litter that is found at the lake to make it a much better place for people and wildlife.

The first project I did in this program was to investigate if the number of waste receptacles impacted litter within each of the four recreational parks at Buckeye Lake. Through this inquiry, I found that the number of waste receptacles had no impact on litter. Some reasons why people may litter are because they were potentially taught that littering is an acceptable way to dispose of trash, they saw others role modeling littering, they have created a habit they are unwilling to change, or they simply do not understand the ecological impact (Kollmuss & Agyeman, 2002). From this point, I had to come up with a plan to alter the behavior of people who littered. I utilized community-based social marketing to determine a strategy to reduce littering, identify benefits and hurdles, and then test this plan (McKenzie-Mohr & Schultz, 2014). These methods included conducting an in-person and online survey to see if people would be more inclined to properly dispose of waste if signage states “Do not litter” or if creatively decorated waste receptacles were installed. The survey showed that people felt decorated waste receptacles would have a better impact on reducing litter. I eventually installed a decorated bin of my design and measured its impact on litter. Reducing litter makes the park safer for animals and guests and makes it more visually appealing. 

My master plan in Project Dragonfly is to reduce litter around Buckeye Lake by providing educational information and encouraging behavior change from guests. I had no connections to park officials or many other people in the community. This program enabled me to step out of my comfort zone to reach out to people that I did not know to help shape my ideas and go for something. This was one of the most difficult things I had to do. I am a very introverted individual. This portfolio demonstrates the work that I completed to learn about, improve, and become a better member of my community while completing my Master’s program in Biology.  

Section 1 Gathering Litter Around the Lake

For my first project in Project Dragonfly, I wanted to do something that would be beneficial to the community and wildlife in Foundations of Inquiry. When my family first moved into the Buckeye Lake area, we would often visit the parks as they offer many activities for guests. Every time we visited one of these places, I found litter throughout the park. Litter poses many threats to wildlife and people. Aluminum cans and plastic and glass bottles can trap small animals inside, killing them or becoming a breeding ground for pests like mosquitos, and if these items were to become broken or shredded by mowing equipment, they have the potential to cut the flesh of people and animals (Kolenda et al., 2022). Plastics are also dangerous to animals when swallowed because they can cause internal blockage, choking, or poisoning, which can lead to death (Dar et al., 2022). Gathering litter makes the parks more visually appealing and safer for guests and wildlife, I gathered litter at the recreational parks of Buckeye Lake State Park for weeks. The goal of this project was to see if the amount of waste receptacles at the parks would have an impact on the amount of litter that could be found around the park.

This project was extremely difficult to do because of the amount of time put into gathering litter, categorizing it, counting, and then weighing each type (Figure 1b.). I needed the help of my family to complete this task. Because I gathered 71 pounds of litter in 4 weeks (Figure 2b.), I decided I wanted to see what I could do long-term to reduce litter accumulation. However, after reviewing my data, there appeared to be no significant difference in litter in areas with or without a receptacle

I hoped that parks that had more waste receptacles would have a better impact on litter. Finding the results to not be statistically significant was disappointing. Having to now look into ways to alter human behavior became the next step. Adding more waste bins to the parks was not going to be a solution. Something that did happen during cleanups was people showed an interest in what I was doing, would ask questions, and even walked with me for a few minutes picking up litter. By observing my actions, people felt inclined to join in. By researching for this project, I was able to share knowledge with the people who followed how litter impacts the community, how the different types of waste affect the environment and wildlife, and how streams and rivers can feed more litter into the ocean.  Because of the results of this study, I need to focus on how to change human behavior and learn more about my community.

Attachments

• Foundations of Inquiry Project 

Section 2 Learning About My Community

The Community Engagement Lab helped me to create connections around my community that would in turn lead towards the successful completion of many future projects that are a part of my master plan in the fall of 2022. This also helped me to see the importance of Buckeye Lake State Park to Ohio throughout its history and the present-day benefits to the local economy and wildlife. When Buckeye Lake first formed, it was known as the Big Swamp to Native Americans (“A brief history,” 2021). As time moved on, it was turned into a reservoir and canal system that linked Lake Erie and the Ohio River for more efficient goods transportation (Harris, 2016). When the canal system became inefficient for transportation, the reservoir was turned into a public park in 1894, and in the years since, it has been through many transformations including an amusement park with a roller coaster, ballroom dancing, and skating rinks (“A brief history,” 2021). Currently, the lake is used for many different activities such as fishing, boating, walking, swimming, pickleball, picnicking, birding, shopping, and dining. Additionally, a wetlands complex was installed at one of the parks including signage to educate the public on the importance of wetlands. All of these things make it extremely important for the lake to be well taken care of.  

When working on this project, I did not have a grasp on all of the organizations that did work around the lake to keep it healthy and vibrant. To start, I met with the manager of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, the government agency that controls the lake, the head of the Buckeye Lake Region Corporation, which raises money for projects around the lake, and the president of Buckeye Lake for Tomorrow, which focuses on implementing methods to keep the water clean at the lake.  The relationships I made with these people allowed me to organize events and conduct further studies towards litter reduction at the lake. 

This project was successful in that it paved the way forward for future projects. I stepped out of my comfort zone and made connections with people I would have never met if it were not for Project Dragonfly. It was challenging to reach out to people I had never met before to share my interest in the lake. I learned more about Buckeye Lake than most people because of these connections. I was able to create a map of all the spots that are currently being worked on by multiple people to improve the lake. The map included areas where it was being dredged, aerator strips were being installed, sites being looked at to have another wetlands complex installed, where flooding occurs during heavy storms, and much more (Figure 2). Learning more about these activities further motivated me to work towards reducing litter, and sharing what the lake has to offer to the community and how they can help.

Attachments

1. Community Engagement Lab 

Section 3 Establishing a Digital Footprint of My Litter Cleanup Efforts 

In my next project, I wanted to use technology to communicate the conservation message of my master plan digitally. I decided to create a blog about gathering litter around Buckeye Lake State Park, design a website that provides information about the activities that can be done, and make a video about the Lake and cleaning up litter. These projects were created to show off the park and the litter found. People who viewed these projects would learn where receptacles are located, the kind and amount of litter found, the kinds of activities they can participate in at the lake, and how litter can be reduced. I completed these projects in the spring of 2023.

When working on these projects, I had to relearn how to do website design and video editing, and I had never created a blog before. I have had prior experience working in digital media, but that was using the Adobe Creative Suite for 12 years before this project. I used Google Sites to create my webpage, Blogger for my blog, and Windows Movie Maker for my video. While I cannot see how many visitors have been to my blog, creating the blog did help me learn layout skills which was beneficial for my website. My website helped me dive deeper into the benefits of the park as well as showcase ideas for cutting down on plastic use. The video I created about the park provides an excellent visual tool for the park and cleaning up litter (Figure 3).

Even though these projects did not reach a wide audience, they helped me to develop skills working with digital media. For those who do see these published works, I hope that they understand why littering is not good for the environment. The imagery I showcased was intentional, and I hope it has an impact. With this project, the length and time it took to load media for editing and formatting took more planning than I was used to. These projects took many hours of preparation. Overall, these were another way to showcase the work needed to keep Buckeye Lake Clean.   

Section 4 Conducting a Public Survey

When trying to devise a solution for reducing litter, I created a survey in the Fall of 2023 for my Human Dimensions of Conservation course. Studies have shown that two actions impact litter reduction: hanging signs that explicitly state, “Do not litter,” and installing decorated waste receptacles that are easily identifiable (Brown et al., 2010). With this information, I created a survey consisting of 12 questions that used a Likert Scale. These questions focused on the impact of installing signage and installing a decorated receptacle, and how this would affect individuals and other guests. I walked around Buckeye Lake asking guests if they would take the survey and provided a QR code that could be scanned on their phones to answer the questions. I also posted a link to the study in various groups on Facebook that are local to the area asking people to participate. By the end of my survey, I had 71 people respond.

I was thrilled to get the number of responses that I did. I think that I could have gotten more responses had I printed off the questions and asked people to fill them out. People refused to take the survey because they feared scanning the QR code would do something nefarious to their phones. I went with the QR code to cut down on paper waste. This survey indicated that approximately 50.7% thought there was a problem with litter, 33.8% neither agreed nor disagreed, and 15.5% did not think there was a problem with litter. When comparing whether signage or a decorated waste receptacle would be more effective, 66.2% of people thought signage would be effective (Figure 4a), and 73.2% thought the decorated waste receptacle would be effective (Figure 4b).  

The results of this project influenced my independent study. I took the survey results to ODNR and received approval to decorate a waste receptacle and install it at a park to test the effectiveness of litter reduction. I had never conducted a survey before, so this was a great way to interact with people and hear what thoughts they have regarding the park. I do not like to approach strangers, but this project forced me to step out of my comfort zone. Without this study, I would not have done my independent study of decorating a receptacle and installing it.

Attachments

• Human Dimensions of Conservation Project 

Section 5 Installing a Decorated Waste Receptacle

During the Summer of 2024, I was allowed to implement a decorated waste receptacle in Brooks Park, one of the parks at Buckeye Lake State Park. For this project, I painted a waste receptacle with the images of a bass, eagle, and blue heron. Through this installation, the hope is that people will see the receptacle saying, “Do not litter” and be reminded of the wildlife at the lake. Littering can be seen as a norm that is okay, but the goal is to change that behavior and motivate people not to litter (de Kort et al., 2008). Guests at the park are greeted with this receptacle at the entrance, and it should catch their eye so that they can be reminded to clean up their trash.

To get this project off the ground, I needed to come up with designs to be painted on the receptacle. I submitted these to the park manager to get his approval before proceeding. Once I got the design down, I was able to paint and then ODNR installed it (Figure 5a). Due to time constraints, I was able to do this study for four weeks. I would gather all the litter in Brooks Park, categorize it, and weigh it. I would also gather the trash from the bin each evening and weigh that as well. I used the following formula to see how effective the receptacles are: bin waste / (litter waste + bin waste) = percent not littered. The beginning of my study showed that 83% of all trash at the park ended up in the bin, and at the end of the study, this percentage jumped to 95.8% of trash being disposed of properly (Figure 5b).

This was pretty exciting to see the positive effect of the waste receptacle I installed. Walking through the park and seeing less trash was much more relaxing and not distracting from the views of nature. I was asked by ODNR to continue to decorate receptacles so that they can be installed. My goals are to incorporate local artists and organizations to help decorate bins and get them installed around the park. There are many organizations to reach out to and this can help bring the community together. 

 Attachments

• Installing a Decorated Waste Receptacle Project 

Section 6 Leading a Community Litter Cleanup and Tree Planting

To celebrate Earth Day in 2024, I organized a litter cleanup and tree planting around Buckeye Lake State Park for my Community Leadership Challenge. I created a Facebook event and worked with local organizations to promote it. For this event, the four individual parks at Buckeye Lake State Park were cleaned of litter simultaneously because of the number of volunteers that came to this event. After the cleanup, we planted a river birch and a swamp white oak that I purchased and delivered to Brooks Park. I contacted ODNR and a local recycling facility to get gloves, vests, bags, and grabbers for the event.

Within two hours, the volunteers cleaned the parks of litter (Figure 6a). This project again forced me out of my comfort zone reaching out to organizations to hang a flyer with a QR code in their windows to promote my event. This event was a success due to the number of people who participated and how efficiently we worked to clean the parks. Looking back, I would have liked to have a scale for each park to record weight, but I had already spent enough personal money on the trees and promoting my event that I did not have the budget. I did not want to ask volunteers to load trash into their cars because the bags do leak and they smell. The kids that were at my event enjoyed gathering litter and planting the trees (Figure 6b). Children who can see the difference in what they do get more into their work from what I have seen. Especially when they learn the benefits of cleaning litter, and how it can save the lives of animals.

As an individual, this prepared me for better reaching out to people to ask to advertise events and participate. By working with various organizations, I did improve my networking skills. When children ask questions and learn about the dangers of litter pollution, it inspires them to pick up litter and dispose of waste properly. This event brought together people to clean up and help plant two trees. The trees themselves weighed about 500 pounds each, so without help, they would not have made it into the ground. 

Attachments

• Community Leadership Challenge 

Section 7 Authorship Leadership Challenge

On June 4, 2024, I was published in The Columbus Dispatch as part of my Authorship Leadership Challenge. My article, “Buckeye Lake being plagued by litter. Careless guests threatening nature, animals,” I focused on the amount of litter that I had been picking up around Buckeye Lake. I wanted to shed light on the issue that is plaguing the lake. Since people from all over the state visit the lake, this medium allowed me to reach many more people than I would have before just posting in social media groups. I was able to share my Earth Day litter cleanup as well as the results of my FOI project.

When I was writing for the newspaper, I was completely unfamiliar with how to compose my writing. It took multiple attempts to get it noticed by the publisher. I had to rewrite and submit this multiple times. Once I fulfilled the requirements of the publisher, they asked for pictures that could be published. I searched for the article on Facebook, and I saw it was shared a couple of times with groups that focus on Buckeye Lake.

I was thrilled to see some of the work that I had been doing getting published for many people in Ohio to see. Whether this helps to keep the park clean, is difficult to determine. People know now that there are litter cleanups being performed around the lake. This project helped me with a style of writing that I was unfamiliar with. I would like to attempt to submit another article next year around Earth Day just to update people on if there is an improvement since the article was published. For now, the community was in the spotlight cleaning up the park.

Attachments

• Authorship Leadership Challenge 

Conclusion

As I began my journey in my master plan, I often wondered if I could reduce litter in any way. With my independent study showing a trend towards more litter in the receptacle than the regular bin, this is a step in the right direction. ODNR has asked that I keep decorating receptacles for the park. I plan on continuing to paint waste receptacles and involve the community. My projects surrounding litter reduction required that I step out of my comfort zone, as well as dedicate many hours to gathering litter. I have gone from being afraid to reach out to people asking for help to not bothering me now. People will help out to better the community.

One of the things that I have learned is that change does not happen overnight. It is a long process that takes effort. To create a community impact, I had to put myself out there and see what the community thought about my ideas. I wasn’t aware of how much local knowledge could help, but getting with other local members of the community helped to shape my projects. I found that projects that involved other people were much more rewarding than those that I did by myself. Getting feedback and having ideas bounced around strengthened my projects. I learned more about digital media, working with paint, conducting surveys, and showcasing whether my efforts had an impact.

My next steps involve reaching out to more community organizations to collaborate on installing more decorated waste receptacles. I am going to continue organizing litter cleanups around the lake. There are many talented local artists and I think it would be amazing to see what they can create. With my work leading towards cleaner parks, I hope I can keep up and put a bigger effort into change. 

Acknowledgments

The completion of this program relied on the support of many people. I want to thank my daughter Tegan and my mother, Rose, my peers: Nebraska Lynn-White, Caleb Austin, and Kati Delbert, and those who provided feedback on my projects, my friends: Nathan Hinebaugh and Hannah Montgomery who helped bring people to my cleanup events, and from my community: Mark Hoffhines and Matt Baumann. 

Literature Cited

A brief history of Buckeye Lake. (2021). Retrieved September 18, 2022, from https://thebuckeyelake.com/history.php  

Amano, T., Butt, I., & Peh, K. S. ‐H. (2018). The importance of green spaces to public health: A multi‐continental analysis. Ecological Applications, 28(6), 1473–1480. https://doi.org/10.1002/eap.1748   

Buckeye Lake reopens its waters, but not all residents give a dam. (2018, March 30). Retrieved September 20, 2024, from https://news.wosu.org/news/2017-05-30/buckeye-lake-reopens-its-waters-but-not-all-residents-give-a-dam 

Dar, M. A., Dhole, N. P., Pawar, K. D., Xie, R., Shahnawaz, Mohd., Pandit, R. S., & Sun, J. (2022). Ecotoxic effects of the plastic waste on Marine Fauna: An Overview. Impact of Plastic Waste on the Marine Biota, 287–300. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-5403-9_15 

De Veer, D., Drouin, A., Fischer, J., González, C., Holtmann, G., Honorato-Zimmer, D., Leyton, A., Núñez, P., Sepúlveda, J. M., Vásquez, N., & Thiel, M. (2022). How do school children perceive litter? overlooked in urban but not in Natural Environments. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 81, 101781. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2022.101781  

de Kort, Y. A., McCalley, L. T., & Midden, C. J. (2008). Persuasive trash cans. Environment and Behavior, 40(6), 870–891. https://doi.org/10.1177/0013916507311035 

Harris, S. (2016). How buckeye lake came to be. Retrieved September 18, 2022, from https://buckeyelakeyc.com/our-club/history/history-archives/looking-aft/how-buckeye-lake-came-to-be/  

Kolenda, K., Kuśmierek, N., Kujawa, K., Smolis, A., Wiśniewski, K., Salata, S., Maltz, T. K., Stachowiak, M., & Kadej, M. (2022). Bottled & canned – anthropogenic debris as an understudied ecological trap for small animals. Science of The Total Environment, 837, 155616. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.155616   

Kollmuss, A., & Agyeman, J. (2002). Mind the gap: Why do people act environmentally and what are the barriers to pro-environmental behavior? Environmental Education Research, 8(3), 239–260. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504620220145401   

Yang, Q., Zhong, W., Jiao, Y., Zhang, Y., Cheng, L., Ruan, Y., & Yang, S. (2024). Littered cigarette butts in both coastal and inland cities of China: Occurrence and environmental risk assessment. Frontiers in Marine Science, 11. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2024.1388631  

Personal Statement

Michael Curtis is a desktop services specialist for a bank based out of Ohio. After moving to Millersport, OH, in 2015, he took an interest in the ecosystem at Buckeye Lake State Park. Before pursuing a Master’s degree from Miami University, he earned an Associate’s Degree in Business in 2012 from Zane State College and a Bachelor’s Degree in Applied Management from Ohio University in 2014. He has been working towards improving Buckeye Lake State Park by reducing the amount of litter found by organizing community clean-up events, providing a new kind of waste receptacle, and planting trees at the park. His goal is to continue working within the community to raise more awareness about the dangers of littering and keep the park clean.