COASST is a citizen science project of the University of Washington in partnership with state, tribal and federal agencies, environmental organizations, and community groups. COASST believes citizens of coastal communities are essential scientific partners in monitoring marine ecosystem health. By collaborating with citizens, natural resource management agencies and environmental organizations, COASST works to translate long-term monitoring into effective marine conservation solutions.
In 2004, the City of Menomonie updated its storm water management plan to minimize storm water runoff, encourage storm water infiltration and reduce sediment and nutrient deposition in the storm water conveyance system and waterways. This plan complies with the requirements of the EPA Phase II and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resource (WDNR) NR 151 and NR 216 storm water regulations that affect the City of Menomonie. Under the education and information chapter of the plan, the following recommendation is mentioned: “We recommend that the City and the University of Wisconsin-Stout partner and work together to ensure that positive steps are taken within the City of Menomonie watershed and Galloway Creek sub-watershed”. In order to meet that specific storm water management recommendation, students enrolled in the BIO 111 course (Science, Society and the Environment) collect and analyze water quality data within specific sections of Galloway Creek and submit their results in a stream report.
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Krista JamesWisconsin Water Action Volunteers ProgramCity of Menomonie
The URI Watershed Watch program is the largest scientist-led volunteer water quality monitoring program in Rhode Island. Program staff coordinate more than 350 trained volunteer citizen scientists monitoring the water quality of Rhode Island freshwater lakes and ponds, rivers and streams, salt ponds and coastal watersheds. This award-winning program has more than thirty local sponsors, including one third of RI cities and towns, watershed and lake associations, environmental organizations, scouts, the Narragansett Indian Tribe, RI DEM, individual and corporate sponsors. Comprehensive program components include: recruiting, classroom and field training, and equipping volunteers; in-house laboratory analyses in our state-certified lab, data reporting to volunteers, sponsors and pertinent governmental agencies. Specific programs are tailored to lakes and ponds, rivers and streams, estuaries and salt ponds.
Water Logging is a volunteer water quality monitoring program, that monitors water quality in the Huntington-Northport Bay Complex in Long Island, NY. The goals and objectives of the Water Logging Program are to: 1. Educate and involve the public in water quality assessment and protection. 2. Develop a sense of stewardship among the community in the Huntington-Northport Bay watershed. 3. Screen for water quality impairments and determine long-term water quality trends. 4. Document effects of water quality improvement programs. 5. Provide useful water quality data to interested parties and the public.
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Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk County
The Conservation Trust of Puerto Rico, Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, the Interdisciplinary Center for Coastal Studies, New York Botanical Garden, Puerto Rico Youth at Risk, Boy Scouts, and others implemented a citizen science program for age 12 and older. This project targeted local residents, visitors to Hacienda La Esperanza Reserve, and members of community environmental projects on topics including archeology and human impacts on local ecosystems; conservation and restoration of wetlands; and shoreline and costal processes.
Gastineau Guiding Company created this exciting tour program to look for ways to foster connections between citizens and science. With the help of two local non-profits, the Alaska Sea Grant Marine Advisory Program and the Marine Conservation Alliance Foundation a tour with purpose was born. Our objectives include sampling phytoplankton to identify possible "red tide" outbreaks, contributing photographs to aid in the identification of area humpback whales and mammals, providing baseline data for several researchers throughout the state of Alaska, and contributing to online citizen science databases utilized by researchers around the country. During each summer season cruise line travelers' direct participation and observation can give a little something back, deepening our understanding of local wilderness and wildlife.
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National Great Rivers Research and Education CenterGastineau Guiding Company
Nature Abounds announces Watch the Wild™, a program where citizen science volunteers observe and report on the “wild” in your community, from trees and plants to weather and wildlife activity. By monitoring the "wild", observations can help us to understand how our eco-systems are changing and aids us in adapting for the future.
This Volunteer Water Quality Monitoring National Facilitation Project is designed to build a comprehensive support system for Extension-affiliated and other volunteer water quality monitoring efforts across the country. The goal is to expand and strengthen the capacity of existing volunteer monitoring programs and support development of new groups. We have developed a modular "Guide for Growing CSREES Volunteer Monitoring Programs" to direct you to resources and help you start asking questions that you’ll need to answer in order to create an effective program that meets the needs of your community. The Guide has been designed as a series of ‘chapters’ or modules that can be used alone or in conjunction with other modules. The Guide brings together the excellent resources produced by a wide variety of monitoring programs or agencies with numerous references and links to a wide variety of materials.
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United States Department of AgricultureUniversity of Rhode Island Cooperative ExtensionSalish-Kootenal CollegeUniversity of Wisconsin ExtensionLinda Green
The Vanessa Migration Project is a citizen science program that has been active since April 2001 as part of the Red Admiral and Painted Lady Research Site. Citizen observers in North America report their sightings of date, location, flight direction, and other activity of four butterflies of the genus Vanessa (V. atalanta, V. cardui, V. virginiensis, and V. annabella). Objectives include 1) monitoring butterflies and their yearly seasonal distribution; 2) tracking migrations and outbreaks; and 3) studying effects of weather and climatic patterns on butterfly activity.
GSWA's stream team monitors the 5 streams in the watershed through chemical and visual assessments. Training is required for all new volunteers. The primary goal of the chemical monitoring program is to measure the volume of water, nutrients and sediments flowing into the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge. The main purpose of the visual assessment program is to help gather data for the Watershed Association and the State on waterbodies that are not currently being assessed by the NJDEP. All of this data helps to generate a picture of the overall health of our streams and help to identify areas where where water quality improvements could be made.
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Great Swamp Watershed AssociationKelley Curran
Stream Monitoring is a statewide program for Wisconsin citizens interested in learning about and improving the quality of Wisconsin’s streams and rivers. As a volunteer for monitoring through Beaver Creek Reserve Citizen Science Center, you will collect information once a month May through September from one of the numerous streams in the Lower Chippewa Basin. To become a volunteer, you will need to attend a day-long training session to learn how to measure and record the stream data. There are two levels for stream monitoring; level 2 monitoring requires additional training and you are assigned specific streams and times to monitor them.
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Beaver Creek ReserveWisconsin Department of Natural ResourcesSarah Braun