USFWS
Susan Morse
Writer/editor, Branch of Communications and Digital Services, National Wildlife Refuge System
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Chevy Chase, MD
Maryland
COVID-19 PR Campaign: DIGITAL
Public Health Reminders from Wildlife: The USFWS Approach to "Recreate Responsibly"
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Kristen Gilbert, Lead, Branch of Communications and Digital Services, National Wildlife Refuge System
Sara Wolman, visual information specialist, National Wildlife Refuge System
Jennifer Eberlein, digital ranger, National Wildlife Refuge System
Rebecca Fabbri, public affairs specialist, California-Great Basin region, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Also
Susan Morse, writer/editor, Branch of Communications and Digital Services, National Wildlife Refuge System
Bill O'Brian, writer/editor, Branch of Communications and Digital Services, National Wildlife Refuge System
Mary Powers, webmaster, Branch of Communications and Digital Services, National Wildlife Refuge System
Meagan Racey, public affairs specialist, Northeast Region, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Patrick Stark, visual information specialists, Northwest Region, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service


We aimed to persuade visitors, rather than scold them, to follow CDC guidelines to reduce spread of COVID-19 – in line with the Recreate Responsibly message set by a multi-agency coalition.

We viewed the campaign as part of an effort to re-brand the Refuge System as a caring partner in outdoor recreation.

We decided to use our best-loved asset —our wildlife—to convey our message. We also chose to use humor and eye-catching graphics to make the message friendly and appealing.

We established a color palette for illustrations, with colors inspired by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service shield.
1) Visitors to national wildlife refuges. More than 400 of our 567 refuges are open to the public. In FY-2020, visits rose 3 percent to 61.4 million, up from 59.8 million in FY-2019.

2) Staff serving those refuges.

3) Lovers of wildlife and visitors to natural outdoor spaces
Together, our Recreate Responsibly posts on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram generated nearly 13,000 reactions and more than 5,000 retweets and shares. They had an organic reach of 694,903.

One viewer, Carrie McClagar (McClelland) in Canada’s Yukon Territory, liked the illustrated messages so much she asked permission to imitate them for her wildlife viewing group.

Refuge visitors smiled at the messages and followed recommended behaviors.
The former USFWS Director often chose to be photographed with the signs on refuge visits.
The Service's COVID-19 team promoted the images and messages prominently on the Service's internal COVID Sharepoint page.
During an unprecedented year of crisis and uncertainty, this campaign met a communications need by offering a light-hearted, non-judgmental approach to impart safety tips and encourage people to protect one another.

Keeping up with changing health guidance and on-the-ground conditions made messaging more challenging than usual.

This campaign was put together on the fly with some very talented people across our organization. Turn-around time for design execution and editing was only a few days to allow sufficient time for the project to clear approval levels that were at the highest levels of the Department of Interior.
We designed our campaign to protect visitors while making them feel welcome. We want visitors to see us as a caring ally in outdoor recreation—playful and as full of wonder at wildlife behavior as they are— while at the same time responsible stewards of the environment.