September 2024: Community Involvement in Restoration

How do community members participate in restoration efforts? 

This is a question restoration practitioners, local government officials, and community organizers have been asking themselves for years. This doesn’t just pertain to people that hold an interest in restoration and community involvement, it’s also a question of how to educate the public about the need for restoration, and best practices to achieve ecosystem rehabilitation.

The solution has come in the form of citizen science. Citizen science is a branch of scientific research that involves a group of volunteers that work alongside professionals to collect data and participate directly in research projects. Involving the public in scientific research has proven to be especially effective in large-scale data collection efforts such as bird surveys which require little background knowledge and cover large geographical areas. Additionally, citizen science has the potential to raise awareness about ecosystem degradation and habitat loss for native species. 

 

A study in Germany aimed to include citizen scientists in a bee monitoring project to both gather a wide breadth of data and educate community members about pollinator population decline. Regardless of individuals’ background, interested citizens were given an opportunity to contribute to science and gain knowledge about their local environment. The researchers recognized the value in utilizing citizen science, but harbored concerns about data quality. To address this, the researchers had all participants complete regular taxonomic quizzes to test their knowledge and ability to correctly identify bees.

Professional staff regularly reviewed data for quality and updated volunteers about the project’s progress, allowing the volunteers to identify with and become more invested in the research. The combined efforts of continually testing the volunteers’ taxonomic knowledge and regular project updates led to a 92.4% identification success rate. The success rate can also be attributed to the design of the study, including the materials used, bees being identified, and goal of the project.  

You may be surprised to learn that similar efforts are occurring in your community as well! There are national citizen science efforts organized by the Audubon Society, as well as opportunities with local organizations, such as the Watershed Education Network in Missoula.

You can read more about the study in Germany, here; more about citizen science in the global community, here; and a citizen science project done at MPG ranch in 2014, here.