Citizen Science, It’s More Than Just Data

Session: Great Lakes Citizen Science: Leveraging Our Love of the Lakes (1)

Elizabeth Robbe, Buffalo Niagara WATERKEEPER, [email protected]
Claudia Rosen, Buffalo Niagara Waterkeeper , [email protected]

Abstract

This workshop would highlight the success of a longstanding running citizen science program and provide lessons learned through the years. Over the past decade, Buffalo Niagara Waterkeeper’s Riverwatch Citizen Science Program has undergone changes in volunteer management, updated field instruments and data visualization, and rapid volunteer growth. Staff and over 70 community members conduct surveillance monitoring of local waterways to help track the health of the waterways. Volunteers provide an immense ‘eyes on the water’ network to report pollution spills and identify Harmful Algal Blooms throughout the Niagara River Watershed. Data collected is utilized organization-wide to inform watershed management plans, identify locations for waterway restoration projects, and to inform the community of local waterway conditions.

The high-tech water quality equipment and data is incorporated into high school STEM programing.Waterkeeper has also expanded a corporate partnership to expand our citizen science programing to include microplastics monitoring. This partnership provides additional volunteer resources for Waterkeeper, and creates meaningful ways for partner organizations to give back to the local community while educating their staff about water issues. Our volunteer coordinators have fostered these relationships in order to create an Ambassador program which has increased the awareness of our organization on a broad scale.

Twitter handle of presenter
@bnwaterkeeper