The concept of citizen science is relatively simple: many hands make light work.
Through public participation and collaboration in scientific research, many more projects and important results can be achieved than if we at The Arboretum were working alone. Through citizen science, volunteers share and contribute to data monitoring and collection programs.
Engaging in citizen science is a great way to contribute to The Arboretum, and all it costs is your time. Citizen scientists also gain a deeper understanding of the scientific process and learn about the plants and plant communities around Flagstaff.
This summer The Arb will be hosting two citizen science projects; The AZ Flora Finders (AZFF) and The Healthy Trees, Healthy Cities Initiative (HTHC).
The AZFF project has been active for 4 years now, and is a collaboration with botanists at the Museum of Northern Arizona. This year we are training volunteers to search for populations of 5 different rare plant species around the Mogollon Rim. AZFF volunteers coordinate with us and plan their own excursions into the forest to try and document new and/or existing populations, which helps fill in the gaps of knowledge for these particular species.
The HTHC project is a collaborative initiative with the American Public Gardens Association, The Nature Conservancy, and the USDA Forest Service which supports researchers, managers, and civic ecologists in the protection of trees and forests in communities nationwide. Information is gathered using a brand-new web app to monitor the long-term health of urban and rural forest trees. The data gathered can have both local and national implications: locally, managers and stewards use the data to prioritize the care of stressed trees and intervene to restore health; nationally, USDA Forest Service researchers study the effects of the urban environment on trees, and the impact healthy trees have on communities.
Both of our projects require some initial training which is a hybrid of online and in-person activities, so if you are interested please reach out to me (Sheila.Murray@thearb.org) and I can get you started!
Sheila C. Murray is the Conservation Botanist at The Arboretum at Flagstaff.
