As populations increase and become more urbanized, there is a serious need to increase environmental literacy in citizens in order to mitigate environmental damage. Creating citizen science and service learning projects is an engaging tool to mend this concern and promote outdoor activity. These projects, a collaboration of volunteers and scientists to create new science-based knowledge, benefit individual facilities and citizens by increasing habitat stewardship and confidence in a range of opportunities related to outdoor recreation, natural resource conduct and stewardship action.
There are many national citizen science projects that your facility can participate in to get comfortable with data collection and the process before you create your own project. There is a project out there for any interest you have, from the Monarch Larva Monitoring Project to Nature’s Notebook (tracks seasonal changes in plants and animals), Audubon Christmas Bird Count), and FrogWatch to name a few.
Restoring Habitats and Wetlands
The staff of Patuxent River Park, part of the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission (M-NCPPC) in Prince George’s County, Maryland, has been successful in involving citizens of all ages in exciting and significant research projects that have impacted the survival of many species. Initially, projects at Patuxent River Park were more pure research — conservation and wildlife management conducted by senior naturalist Greg Kearns — and the public was not usually allowed to participate in any appreciable numbers. Through our river ecology boat tours, the primary mission being environmental education, the community was made aware of ongoing projects. As public interest grew, the programs evolved from using a few intern assistants into a public science and education collaboration.
One major project consists of more than 30 years of osprey (pandion haliaetus) monitoring and banding and includes putting up more than 50 nest platforms over 10 miles of the Patuxent River. Numerous Boy Scouts have received Eagle Scout honors for assisting with the construction and placement of these nests. This long-term, bird-banding project gives numerous interns the opportunity to get “hands on” with the birds, gain tremendous experience working with nature and, at the same time, help allay their fears of nature or birds. Many students have gone on from this experience to work in environmental fields of study, have gained a greater appreciation of birds and learned the importance of studying their populations. The famous naturalist, Roger Tory Peterson once said, “Birds are the litmus paper of the environment,” because they are good indicators of environmental change and degradation.
To date, as part of this long-term monitoring project, we have banded more than 1,100 juvenile and adult ospreys at the Patuxent River Park during the past 30 years and another 3,000 on the rest of the river. More than 2,000 people of all ages in the past five years have participated in this program with extremely positive results. Groups of up to 25 people accompany Kearns on a specialized program to learn about the biology of the osprey and how to tag them safely. Participants also learn the procedure involved, what data is collected from the birds and how it comes back to the bander. The training usually starts with the group gathered around a live osprey camera that was installed 15 years ago at the park’s visitor center to monitor and learn about osprey behavior. Then, participants go on the pontoon boat and get to handle the birds as part of the banding process. This is always a highlight and, year after year, brings back people who have great interest and enthusiasm. Program demand is high and the funds generated from it are used to sustain other programs and part-time staff.
Another major citizen science program we conduct is the restoration and conservation of wild rice (zizania aquatica) marshes on the Patuxent River. Wild rice is one of the most important wetland plants in the Patuxent River/Jug Bay ecosystem. This project began in 2000 with grant money from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which was used to buy fencing to protect the wild rice and to hire summer interns.
During the past 15 years, this program has grown to involve hundreds of volunteers and students who receive wild rice seeds to grow in their classrooms with special lights. In April and May, they bring the seedlings back to plant on-site in the Patuxent River wetlands. These hundreds of students get to have a first-hand experience in chest waders working in the marsh, learning about the importance of wild rice in the ecosystem and its value to wildlife and water quality. The college interns, who work the entire summer, get invaluable experience to add to their résumés in a nationally recognized wetland restoration project that is a great example of service and citizen science. This project has helped many of them secure jobs in the environmental field.
The goal of these projects is to not only restore the wetlands and habitats but also to provide extremely useful, hands-on experience to as many people as possible. More than 60 research interns have participated in this program since it began and hundreds, if not thousands, of other volunteers. Much of the work has been published in science journals, in cooperation with federal biologists, and seen internationally.
Designing Your Own Citizen Science Project
How do natural resource managers meet the potential of citizen science? When designing a project, it is important to include the data collectors in the objectives. The data is important, but the real treasure is the opportunity to develop stewards for natural spaces, to encourage informed and responsible user groups, and to grow an army of messengers to spread the passion.
One of the first steps in designing your own project is figuring out what kind of commitment you want from your volunteers. Contributory projects are ideal for one-day or off-site volunteers who simply collect and submit data to the researcher. Collaborative projects have the volunteers help with designing the project as well as with collecting data. Co-created projects involve volunteers from the outset, from developing the question all the way to interpreting the results. If you have long-term volunteers, co-created projects can provide them with a great experience.
Once you have laid out the objectives of the study, the types of data need to be decided. Quantitative data is easiest for most citizen science groups because they can be clearly defined. There should be minimal to no opportunity for subjectivity. Checkoff boxes work great in many cases and are easily incorporated into a digital form that can be exported into a spreadsheet. Decide if data collection will be done independently or as planned events that require volunteers to work as a group. Regardless of how it occurs, protocol should be simple and clear.
When it comes to finding volunteers, recruitment possibilities are endless — from schools to community centers, churches, volunteer databases, social media, etc. — but not always easy to harness. Give yourself enough time to market and, when possible, have multiple training opportunities to fit your audience’s schedule. Prior to training workshops, be sure you develop a pre-participant survey to assess knowledge, outdoor confidence and ecological service values.
Training day is the most important piece of your project. You don’t want to recruit 100 people and then suffer 75 percent attrition after the training because you lost their interest. It’s important to choose the right person to lead the training; it might not be you. A project’s front person should be enthusiastic, charismatic, a friendly face who is open to questions and knowledgeable about the project. Great informal educators spread their passion, knowledge and needs clearly in a manner that centers around all learning types so that participants are engaged and confident to move forward as a team member once training is over.
Resources are also vital to the success of your project. Whether you are sending volunteers off on their own to collect data or holding collection days, there needs to be a visual method of review that participants have readily available and know how to use. Trifolds, both as paper and stand-up boards, are a great tool with either of these methods.
Make your citizen science team feel like just that: part of the team. Give them a space to share their experience. Social media is a priceless marketing tool that can be used to express participants’ motivation and your endless appreciation of their hard work. It is also the perfect place to share the results of the project. Participants are less likely to involve themselves in something that never has a means to an end. Citizen scientists want to understand the management decisions that resulted from the study, not to mention, they are your first line of action when appropriate. Post-participant surveys give your team closure so it can get ready for any possible next steps.
Citizen science is a way to fulfill the data needs of projects on limited budgets. Consequently, the participants find a serious interest in research subjects and become forever stewards of natural resources. It’s been found that infrequent participation and stewardship of natural spaces is not because of a lack of interest, but because of a lack of know-how and empowerment to feel confident using these spaces appropriately.
It may seem daunting to design a big project, but remember, you can start small. Your project can grow and expand as your own confidence increases. You can make a huge impact just by staying local and keeping your projects small and still make lifelong stewards of your participants. They will also gain environmental literacy through their experiences. Many studies show that exposure to nature has a positive effect on the physical and emotional health for both children and adults. Give the citizens you serve the opportunity to become comfortable with nature by designing citizen science projects they can assist with so they can discover nature’s great benefits.
Greg Kearns is a Park Naturalist II in the Department of Parks and Recreation at Patuxent River Park, The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission. Melinda Fegler is a Park Naturalist at Patuxent River Park, The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission. Michelle Schreiber is a Park Naturalist at Patuxent River Park, The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission.