Citizen Science Research: Combining forest ecology research and adaptive management in a co-constructed Citizen Science project
Citizen science is the integration of people who are not formally trained as scientists in science research. The Christmas bird count is a commonly known long-running citizen science project. Citizen science is becoming more commonly discussed in scientific research fields, and there is an ongoing effort to characterize different types of citizen science, and describe different citizen science projects.
In 2017 I began a co-constructed citizen science project, with three citizen scientists. We are drawing from the forest-scale limber pine planting methods I developed for my MS work to determine effective planting methods for a high-elevation wind break. The project began when two citizen scientists approached me to consult on their planned limber pine planting project. Since they were already performing informal research on their property, and were interested in research on their planting, we developed a co-constructed citizen science research project instead.
Seedlings were planted in May of 2017. As our collaboration develops and we collect data on seedling survival and health we will report it here. These reports will include both informal reporting as well as our peer-reviewed publications.
In 2017 I began a co-constructed citizen science project, with three citizen scientists. We are drawing from the forest-scale limber pine planting methods I developed for my MS work to determine effective planting methods for a high-elevation wind break. The project began when two citizen scientists approached me to consult on their planned limber pine planting project. Since they were already performing informal research on their property, and were interested in research on their planting, we developed a co-constructed citizen science research project instead.
Seedlings were planted in May of 2017. As our collaboration develops and we collect data on seedling survival and health we will report it here. These reports will include both informal reporting as well as our peer-reviewed publications.