INDIANOLA — When Indianola resident Heidi Herendeen started hearing about some of the changes being made in the area to accommodate anticipated growth, she wanted to help, especially when it came to trying to understand the impact on local wildlife.

“To me, it was, you can’t just make changes and not have some basis for it,” she said. “Not only scientific but also a community understanding for it.”

To reach that goal of community education and understanding, Herendeen developed a wildlife observation survey called the Indianola Waterfront, Wildlife and Human Activities Inventory.

The idea of the survey is to educate the community on what effect people can have on an area like Indianola, especially on the environment, as well help residents become more aware of the elements and wildlife around them.

“Like when they started the Mutt Mitt program and it’s been incredibly successful, “ she said, noting that increased awareness of the effects of dog waste on the area has been attributed to education and stewardship. “(Initially,) people just didn’t think dog waste was such a big deal.”

She hopes the survey accomplishes several things — to increase the awareness of the wildlife in the area, to see how humans and wildlife interact with each other and to pinpoint the pressures on the environment from a growing a community.

The survey can involve several techniques, such as identifying species, their quantity and activities observed, as well as journaling wildlife and human interactions.

Something as simple as taking a dog for a beach walk and seeing a great blue heron nearby, observing its reaction is the type of surveying Herendeen is encouraging. She also hopes youth will take an interest being acute observers of local wildlife.

“I think there already is some excitement,” Herendeen said. “I hope it evolves into an open communication situation where people can talk about this.”

Surveys can be picked up at and returned to the Indianola General Store.