Citizen Science

Volunteer kayakers record data on a Spartina clone in Whatcom County.

Restoring Puget Sound is a big job, and one of the major hurdles to progress is the fact that there is so much work to be done, and few resources to do it.   Across the country and here in Puget Sound, conservation groups have started solving this problem by engaging and training local residents to conduct on the ground data collection.   These volunteers are citizen scientists, gathering valuable data that scientists, educators, and advocates use to do the hard work of saving and restoring this great estuary.

Here at People For Puget Sound, it’s been an amazing experience working to save this place with people who love it.   Our trained volunteers have surveyed, by land and by sea, over 550 miles of shoreline for invasive species,  have spent hundreds of hours observing adn identifying waterbird populations at Titlow Lagoon in Tacoma, and have conducted coastal habitat assessments on beaches all around Puget Sound.

Here are some examples of our citizen science projects over the years.  Those that are still active include a link for more information.

Current Pojects:

• Super-volunteers known as Eco-Techs are working around the Sound on restoration science projects to help us conduct research and adaptively monitor our sites.
• Shoreline surveys for invasive Spartina grasses have been conducted across over 555 miles of shoreline in Puget Sound and the Northwest Straits, mostly by volunteer sea  kayakers. Click here for more information.
• Mycorestoration techniques are being tested at restoration sites, harnessing the power of mycorrhizal fungi to improve soil quality and survivability of native plants as well as
• Mycoremediation to address water quality and soil contamination at restoration sites
• Control techniques for invasive Yellow Archangel are being explored on Eld Inlet in the South Sound
• Forage fish monitoring of Puget Sound beaches, searching for microscopic eggs of sand lance and surf smelt

Past Projects:

• Blueprint of conservation and restoration priorities for Samish, Padilla, and Fidalgo Bays in Skagit County
• Benthic invertebrate monitoring, counting and classifying tiny critters who call the mudflats of South Sound home
• Rapid Shoreline Inventory coastal assessments of Vashon, Maury, and Guemes Island

Want to see what citizen scientists are doing around the country or learn more?  Check out Cornell University’s citizen science page.  Or here in Puget Sound, see Washington Sea Grant's Citizen Science Page.

For more information contact Rachel Benbrook, Restoration Ecologist