April 2016 - Parks & Recreation - 67

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 participa-

Citizen science volunteers learn how to
band osprey as part of a long-term monitoring project at Patuxent Park.

tion 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 (greg.
kearns@pgparks.com). Melinda Fegler is a
Park Naturalist at Patuxent River Park, The
Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning
Commission (melinda.fegler@pgparks.com).
Michelle Schreiber is a Park Naturalist at
Patuxent River Park, The Maryland-National
Capital Park and Planning Commission
(michelle.schreiber@pgparks.com).

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April 2016 - Parks & Recreation

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