Clean Lakes Alliance & NestForms

Clean Lakes Alliance is a nonprofit organisation working to protect the Yahara River Watershed through education, outreach, and conservation action. In summer, they run lake-use surveys to better understand how the public interacts with local lakes and waterways.

The team needed to:

• Conduct over 1,500 public interviews across different lakes
• Record responses about water activities (e.g. swimming, fishing, boating)
• Gauge perceptions of water quality
• Avoid the pitfalls of paper-based forms and duplicate data entry.

To gather meaningful insights on how people interact with local lakes, Clean Lakes Alliance needed a way to conduct in-person interviews efficiently and consistently. Each summer, their team of field staff visit popular lakefront locations across the Yahara River Watershed to speak directly with visitors. These surveys take place on-site and are designed to capture a mix of environmental perceptions, recreational activity, and visitor demographics.

Using the NestForms mobile data collection app, the Clean Lakes team built a custom survey tailored to their objectives. The app allowed interviewers to conduct face-to-face interviews using smartphones or tablets, eliminating the need for clipboards or manual data entry. Staff could move freely around parks and lakefronts, even in areas with poor mobile signal, thanks to the app’s offline survey functionality.

Each response was saved instantly, complete with timestamps and location data, and automatically synced when back online. The simple layout of the form helped interviewers guide each conversation smoothly, while dropdowns, multiple choice fields, and notes helped standardise responses for later analysis. NestForms ensured Clean Lakes Alliance could collect accurate, consistent feedback from the community in real-world conditions.

• Offline Survey App: Ensured consistent data collection even in low-signal areas.
• Easy Form Builder: Allowed staff to quickly create and edit surveys.
• Efficient Response Analysis: Instant access to clean, structured data for reporting and funding proposals.
• Excellent Customer Support: Responsive assistance throughout the campaign.

The Clean Lakes Alliance completed their summer activity surveys efficiently, with data accuracy, speed, and minimal administrative overhead. The results helped support community engagement and informed future conservation planning.