Engagement of citizen scientists -- the underutilized tool in our monitoring tool box

Creating a conservation community is critical to the success of the National Wildlife Refuge System mission of protecting wildlife and their habitat. Engaging citizen scientists in our conservation work can be a valuable... [ view full abstract ]

Creating a conservation community is critical to the success of the National Wildlife Refuge System mission of protecting wildlife and their habitat. Engaging citizen scientists in our conservation work can be a valuable component of our monitoring tool box. And yet, we find it continues to be overlooked by most station biologists.

For example, when surveyed, a majority of refuge staff recognized the importance of phenology data to understand and manage for environmental change but lack personnel to collect this information. Interestingly, few stations were engaging citizen scientists to collect this information.

To encourage and support field stations to engage citizen scientists to collect phenology data, we partnered with USA-National Phenology Network to establish an online portal for Service staff. The portal provides direct access to established scientific protocols, the on-line data information system and presentation tools, and resources and success stories.

Unfortunately, after a year's time, less than a handful of refuges are participating in this effort. Why? To be sure, engaging citizen scientists has a cost. The logistics and staff required to manage volunteers can be more involved than managing field staff. There is also some hesitancy from biology staff as phenology, coupled with citizen science, is often viewed as an education and outreach activity, not monitoring.

We will discuss the challenges faced engaging citizen scientists in inventory and monitoring and strategies to overcome these hurdles, such as development of a framework and resources for Service personnel to help them effectively engage the public in inventory and monitoring activities. We will continue to establish partnerships with organizations that have a proven track record to engage the public in scientifically valid studies, such as USA-NPN.