Organized by topic, this selection of free online
evaluation resources is especially to help organizations and collaboratives
engaged in ecosystem management, landscape-scale conservation, and/or community
sustainability projects.
Many of these sources contributed to the development of EMI's
evaluation tools, the Measuring Progress
Guide and the Evaluation
Sourcebook.
Click here to
learn how EMI's approach differs from many of the available tools.
Please let us know of
other online resources that have been especially helpful in evaluating or
adapting your efforts!
GENERAL
EVALUATION GUIDANCE
Handbooks
and frameworks for doing evaluation
Related
how-to resources
Strategic
planning
Survey,
questionnaire, or focus group development
Data
collection and analysis
Communicating
impact
Additional
general evaluation resources
ECOSYSTEMS
OR NATURAL RESOURCE EVALUATION
Ecological
indicator frameworks
Monitoring
guidance
Sample
ecological data sources
Sample
reports on ecosystem condition or health
Ecosystem-specific
evaluation resources
Agriculture
and soil
Forest
Grassland
and rangeland
Watersheds,
Wetlands and Riparian Habitat
Estuaries,
Bays, Coastal, and Marine
SOCIAL,
ECONOMIC AND SUSTAINABILITY EVALUATION
Community
health and sustainability evaluation resources
Economic
evaluation
Environmental
education evaluation
Sample
social and economic data sources
Sample
reports on community health or
sustainability
ORGANIZATIONAL
PROCESS EVALUATION
Collaborative
and organizational process lessons, guidance and
evaluation
Organizational
effectiveness surveys
The
5-S Framework for Site Conservation: A Practitioner’s
Handbook for Site Conservation Planning and Measuring Conservation Success pdf (The Nature Conservancy)
Is our project
succeeding? A guide to threat reduction assessment for conservation pdf
(Margoluis and Salafsky, Biodiversity Support Program)
The
Multiparty Monitoring Handbook Series (
USDA
Forest
Service Southwestern Region, State and Private Forestry, Collaborative
Forest
Restoration Program)
Check Your
Success: A Guide to Developing Indicators for Community-Based Environmental
Projects (Virginia Polytechnic Institute and
State
University
, Department of Urban Affairs
and Planning)
Water
Quality Project Evaluation: A Handbook for Objectives-Based Evaluation of Water
Quality Projects (
Ohio
State
University
Extension)
Measuring
Community Success and Sustainability: An Interactive Workbook (
North
Central
Regional
Center
for Rural Development)
Evaluating Collaboratives pdf (
University
of
Wisconsin-Extension
)
Evaluating
Community Programs and Initiatives (Community Toolbox)
A Guidebook for
Multiparty Monitoring for Sustainable Natural Resource Management (Ecosystem
Workforce Program and The Watershed Research and
Training
Center
)
Planning and
Evaluation Resource Center (
Innovation
Center
for Community and Youth Development and the
Institute for Applied Research in Youth Development at
Tufts
University
)
Planning a Program
Evaluation PDF and Evaluation worksheet pdf
(University of Wisconsin-Extension)
Environmental
Results Management Systems: Moving from Planning to Action by Measuring What
Counts pdf (ERMS Initiative)
Participatory
Program Evaluation Manual: Involving Program Stakeholders in the Evaluation
Process pdf (Aubel, J., Child Survival Technical Support Project)
Results-Oriented
Assistance: A USAID Sourcebook: Monitoring and Evaluating Performance (USAID)
Framework for
Program Evaluation in Public Health (Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention)
Steps in a Strategic Planning Process - A
Strategic Planning Primer for Higher Education (
California
State
University
, Northridge)
The Strategic Planning Process (Quick MBA)
The 5-S Framework for Site Conservation: A Practitioner’s Handbook for Site Conservation
Planning and Measuring Conservation Success pdf (The Nature Conservancy)
Enhancing Program Performance with Logic
Models (
University
of
Wisconsin
Extension)
Questionnaire design: Asking
questions with a purpose pdf (
University
of
Wisconsin
Cooperative Extension
)
Collecting Evaluation Data:
End-of-Session Questionnaires pdf (
University
of
Wisconsin
Cooperative Extension
)
Choosing a Data Collection
Method for Survey Research pdf (Rutgers Cooperative Extension)
Using
End-of-Meeting Questionnaires to Assess KOSA (knowledge, opinions, skills,
aspirations) Change pdf (The Program Evaluation Toolbox,
University
of
Kentucky Cooperative Extension
)
Documenting Practice Change with
Mailed Questionnaires pdf (The Program Evaluation Toolbox,
University
of
Kentucky Cooperative Extension
)
A
Step-by-Step Guide to Developing Effective Questionnaires and Survey Procedures
for Program Evaluation & Research pdf (Rutgers Cooperative
Extension)
Samples of
Surveys (
Rutgers
Cooperative Extension)
Designing a
Survey to Increase Response and Reliability pdf (Penn State Cooperative
Extension)
What kind of
question is good for evaluating awareness? pdf (
Penn
State
Cooperative
Extension)
Using Focus Group
Interviews (
Florida
Cooperative Extension Service)
Using Focus
Groups in Program Development and Evaluation pdf (
University
of
Kentucky Cooperative Extension
)
Collecting Evaluation Data: An Overview of Sources and Methods pdf (
University
of
Wisconsin Cooperative
Extension
)
Statistical Primer (
U.S.
Environmental Protection
Agency)
Manager’s Monitoring
Manual (
USGS
Patuxent
Wildlife
Research
Center
)
Writing Program
Success Stories (
North
Carolina
Cooperative Extension Service)
The Fast and Easy
Way to Write Effective Success Stories (
Florida
Cooperative Extension Service)
Present Results for
Decision-making (
U.S.
Environmental Protection
Agency)
Graphic
Display of Data (
U.S.
Environmental Protection
Agency)
Using
Graphics to Report Evaluation Results pdf (Program Development and
Evaluation, University of Wisconsin-Extension)
How to Use
Evaluation Data to Write Different Types of Impact Statements pdf (Penn
State Cooperative Extension)
Database of Key
Monitoring and Evaluation Sources (Foundations of Success)
Performance Measurement for
Government (Governmental Accounting Standards Board)
Michael Quinn
Patton on evaluative thinking (International Development Research
Centre)
Program Evaluation
Tipsheets (
Penn
State
Cooperative Extension)
American Evaluation
Association
A
Framework for Assessing and Reporting on Ecological Condition pdf
(Scientific Advisory Board Report, Environmental Protection Agency)
State
Environmental Goals and Indicators Project (SEGIP): State environmental
indicator reports, Catalog of Environmental Indicators, Catalog of Data Sources,
and Other Environmental Indicator Resources (U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency and the
Florida
Center
for Public Management)
Ecosystems
Indicator Report (USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service)
Vital Signs
Monitoring (Natural Resources Inventory and Monitoring Program, National
Park Service)
Environmental Indicators
Initiative (Minnesota Department of Natural Resources)
Evaluation
Guidelines for Ecological Indicators (Environmental Protection Agency)
Conservation
by design: Measuring Success (The Nature Conservancy)
The
Conservation Measures Partnership
Inventory and
Monitoring Protocol Database (Natural Resources Inventory and Monitoring
Program, National Park Service)
Manager’s
Monitoring Manual: How to design a wildlife monitoring program (
USGS
Patuxent
Wildlife
Research
Center
)
Measuring and monitoring
plant populations (BLM Technical reference)
Catalog of Data
Sources, Environmental Indicator Technical Assistance Series (
U.S.
Environmental
Protection Agency and the
Florida
Center
for Public Management)
Conserve Online
Nature
Serve
National
Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII)
USDA National Resources
Conservation Service (NRCS)
NASA Global Change Master
Directory: A directory to earth science data and services
Environment,
Energy and Agriculture on FirstGov
State of the
Bay Scorecard (
Chesapeake Bay
Foundation)
Status
and Trends of the Nation’s Biological Resources (USGS)
Natural
Resources Stewardship 2001: Key Indicators of Progress, A progress report from the Minnesota Department of Natural
Resources
Core
National Indicators: The State of the Nation’s Ecosystems (The
Heinz
Center
)
Environmental Trends in
British Columbia 2002 (Government of
British Columbia
)
Pacific and Yukon Region
Environmental Indicators (Environment
Canada
)
Ecosystem Health Report
Card 2006 pdf (South East Queensland Waterways)
Riparian
Health Assessment and Riparian Health Inventory (Cows and Fish –
Alberta
Riparian Habitat
Management Society)
Biological
Management of Soil Ecosystems for Sustainable Agriculture (Food and
Agriculture Organization of the United Nations)
A guide to
the art and science of on-farm monitoring: The Monitoring Tool Box pdf (Land
Stewardship Project)
Sustainable Agriculture: An On-Farm Assessment Tool pdf (Center for
Sustainable Systems,
University
of
Michigan
)
Forest
Forest Biodiversity Indicators Selection Web
Tool (
Manomet
Center
for Conservation
Sciences)
Sustainable Forest Management Community
Handbook pdf (Great Lakes Forest Alliance)
A
Guidebook for Multiparty Monitoring for Sustainable Natural Resource Management
related to ecosystem management and community-based forestry, especially the
National Fire Plan: Ecological Effects (Ecosystem Workforce Program and The Watershed Research and
Training
Center
)
The
Multiparty Monitoring Handbook Series (
USDA
Forest
Service Southwestern Region, State and Private
Forestry, Collaborative
Forest
Restoration
Program)
Multiparty Monitoring and Assessment
Guidelines for Community Based Forest Restoration in Southwestern Ponderosa Pine
Forests (
USDA
Forest
Service Southwestern Region, State and Private
Forestry, Collaborative
Forest
Restoration
Program)
North American Test of Criteria and
Indicators of Sustainable Forestry: Selected criteria and
indicators
Overview of Forest Health Monitoring
Protocols (
USDA
Forest
Service)
Interpreting indicators of
rangeland health pdf (BLM Technical reference)
National
Range and Pasture Handbook: Chapter 4 – Inventorying and Monitoring (USDA
Natural Resources Conservation Service)
Monitoring
at the Asylum Lake Preserve: Prairie and Oak Savanna (
Asylum
Lake
Preserve)
Floristic Quality
Assessment for Plant Communities of North Dakota, South Dakota, and Adjacent
Grasslands (The
Northern Great Plains
Floristic Quality Assessment Panel)
Ecological goals of
The Living Grasslands Initiative (
Northern Great
Plains
)
Biological
Indicators of Watershed Health (EPA)
Riparian
Health Assessment and Riparian Health Inventory (Cows and Fish –
Alberta
Riparian Habitat
Management Society)
A Framework
for Analyzing the Hydrologic Condition of Watersheds (USFS and BLM)
Ecosystem Health
Monitoring Program: Freshwater Indicators (Moreton Bay Waterways and
Catchments Partnership, and CRC for Coastal Zone, Estuary and Waterway
Management,
Queensland
,
Australia
)
Biological
Assessment of Wetlands (EPA)
Tools for assessing
stream quality (The Stormwater Manager’s
Resource
Center
)
Watershed
Assessment Tools (Center for Watershed Protection)
International
Stormwater Best Management Practice Database
Volunteer Surface
Water Monitoring Guide (Minnesota Pollution Control Agency)
Freshwater
Initiative Workshop Proceedings: Evaluating Ecological Integrity at Freshwater
Sites pdf (The Nature Conservancy’s Freshwater Initiative, FWI)
South
Carolina Estuarine and Coastal Assessment Program: Integrated Measure of Habitat
Quality
Chesapeake Bay
Monitoring Program (
Maryland
DNR)
Bay
Trends and Indicators (
Chesapeake Bay
Program)
State of the
Bay 2006 Scorecard (
Chesapeake Bay
Foundation)
Florida
Assessment of Coastal Trends (FACT) (Florida Department of Community
Affairs,
Florida
Coastal Management Program)
Environmental
indicators for national state of the environment reporting: Estuaries and the
Sea (Australia Department of the Environment)
Ecosystem Health
Monitoring Program: Marine (Moreton Bay Waterways and Catchments
Partnership, and CRC for Coastal Zone, Estuary and Waterway Management,
Queensland
,
Australia
)
Report of the ICES
Advisory Committee on Ecosystems: Marine ecological quality objectives and
measures pdf (International Council for the Exploration of the Sea)
Measuring
Community Success and Sustainability (
North
Central
Regional
Center
for Rural Development)
Livable
Communities: An Evaluation Guide (AARP Public Policy Institute)
Community Culture and
the Environment: A Guide to Understanding a Sense of Place (EPA)
Measuring
Poverty, Inequality, Vulnerability (World Bank Group)
Human Health
Indicator links (Program for Environmental Policy and Planning Systems
(PEPPS) at the
Institute
of
Science
and Public Affairs)
The National
Neighborhood Indicators Partnership (NNIP)
Sustainability
Indicators (Sustainable Measures)
Community
Indicators (Interagency Working Group on Sustainable Development Indicators,
SDI)
Sustainability
Indicators, including the Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI) and ecological
footprint (Redefining Progress)
Compendium
of Sustainable Development Indicator Initiatives (International Institute
for Sustainable development)
Dashboard
of Sustainability (Consultative Group on Sustainable Development
Indices)
Ecosystems
Indicator Report, including human dimensions of the system (USDA Natural
Resources Conservation Service)
Social goals for rural
communities (Friends of Palliser's Country, Grassland Heritage Region)
A guide to
the art and science of on-farm monitoring: The Monitoring Tool Box pdf (Land
Stewardship Project)
Sustainable Agriculture: An On-Farm Assessment Tool pdf (Center for
Sustainable Systems,
University
of
Michigan
)
Tools
for Automated Economic Analysis (Sonoran Institute)
BANKING
ON NATURE 2002: The Economic Benefits to Local Communities of National Wildlife
Refuge Visitation: Appendix 2. Estimating Economic Impacts: General Methodology
and Assumptions pdf (Division of Economics, U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service)
Economic goals for rural communities (Friends of Palliser's
Country, Grassland Heritage Region)
http://www.eidnet.org/local/grassland/grassp13.htm
Measuring
the Success of Environmental Education Programs pdf (Gareth Thomson,
Canadian
Parks
and Wilderness
Society, and Jenn Hoffman Sierra Club of Canada)
Environmental
Education Guidelines for Excellence (North American Association for
Environment Education)
Nonformal
Environmental Education Programs: Guidelines for Excellence (North American
Association for Environment Education)
75 Evaluation Tools (Data Base from the Bay Area Environmental Education Evaluation Community)
FirstGov Data
and Statistics
U.S. Census Bureau
U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services
U.S. Department of Housing and
Urban Development
USDA Economic Research Service
data
Northwest Area
Foundation Indicator Website
Stateline.org: Politics and
policy news, state by state
State Microenterprise
Associations
Cascadia
Scorecard (Northwest Environmental Watch)
Sustainability
Indicator Reports of the Fraser Basin Council
Quality of Life
Progress Report (Jacksonville Community Council, Inc.,
Florida
)
Minnesota Milestones
Santa Barbara
South Coast Community Indicators Project
Indicators of
sustainable community (Sustainable
Seattle
)
Sierra Nevada
Wealth Index (Sierra Business Council)
Central Texas
Sustainability Indicators Project
Livable
Tucson Goals: Indicators of a Livable Tucson (City of
Tuscon
)
Willapa
Indicators for a Sustainable Community
Other community
examples (Sustainable Development Indicators)
Learning from
Experience: A National Resource for Collaboration and Partnerships (Ecosystem Management Initiative,
School
of
Natural
Resources
and Environment,
University
of
Michigan
)
Evaluating the Collaboration
Process (
Ohio
State
University
Extension):
Evaluating Collaboratives PDF (University of Wisconsin-Extension)
Collaboration:
Guide for Environmental Advocates PDF (University of Virginia Institute for
Environmental Negotiation, The Wilderness society, and the National Audubon
Society)
Evaluating environmental
conflict resolution and collaborative problem solving projects and services (U.S. Institute for Environmental Conflict Resolution)
Evaluating Dispute
Resolution as an Approach to Public Participation PDF (Resources for the
Future)
Ten
Ingredients of a Successful Organization (Community Toolbox for Children’s
Environmental Health)
Organizational development
resources (Community Toolbox for Children’s Environmental Health)
Process improvement and
strategic planning tools (Total Quality Leadership (TQL) Office, Department
of the Navy)
Assessing
whether to participate in a collaborative process PDF (Yaffee and
Wondolleck, Collaboration Skills and Strategies: A Workshop for Environmental
Leaders,
Denver
,
Colorado
, 2001)
Collaboration Factors
Inventory (
Amherst
H.
Wilder
Foundation
Research
Center
)
Effective
Negotiations: Measuring Participant Satisfaction (The
Montana
Consensus
Council):
to evaluate the consensus building
process
Board
evaluation, skills inventory, self-evaluation (Community Toolbox for
Children’s Environmental Health)
Watershed
Council forms and checklists (Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board)
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