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Resources & Webinars

Resources

Click the drop-downs below to find resources from the Forest Service that support crowdsourcing and citizen science activities. 

  • Forest Service Projects Find and filter citizen science projects by subject area. Includes highlights of past projects and ongoing projects that are currently recruiting volunteers.

  • Federal Crowdsourcing and Citizen Science Catalog Find a project near you on this interactive map of projects sponsored by federal agencies.

  • SciStarter Find, join, and contribute to science through recreational activities and citizen science research projects. This comprehensive, searchable database of citizen science projects includes Federal, non-governmental organizations, private groups and more.

  • Join the Forest Service Crowdsourcing and Citizen Science Community of Practice (FSCCS), these monthly webinars are open to all audiences. The goal of the FSCCS is to create a virtual meeting space where participants can network, learn from colleagues and partners, connect to resources and information, and be inspired to develop new projects or expand their current crowdsourcing and citizen science projects. We hope that these webinars will help you to learn more about the Forest Service and the programs and projects that we support. See Webinars below for more information and to sign up.

  • Apply for the Citizen Science Competitive Funding Program (CitSci Fund). The CitSci Fund is a collaborative approach to resource management – each project will have one USFS Project Lead and one Partner Project Lead, and demonstrate how volunteers are meaningfully involved. Participants will be part of a Learning Journey Cohort that will learn and share ideas together. This is a pilot program in 2017/2018 that directly supports National Priority #3: Promoting shared stewardship by increasing partnerships and volunteerism. Projects that support a Forest Service information need can request up to $25,000 in funds.

  • Receive our Citizen Science Digest email where we share information about Agency programs and related crowdsourcing and citizen science information.

  • To find out more about any of these items, please email us at sm.fs.fsccs@usda.gov

  • (Forest Service Staff only) Forest Service Crowdsourcing and Citizen Science Community of Practice page. Find resources and information about this growing community of practice. Do you have a great citizen science project that we should highlight? Let us know! Send an email to sm.fs.fsccs@usda.gov.

  • 2017 Crowdsourcing and Citizen Science Act Sec. 402 of the American Innovation and Competitiveness Act. On January 6, 2017 the President signed into law the American Innovation and Competitiveness Act, which grants broad authority for conducting crowdsourcing and citizen science projects. From Title IV, Section 402: "It is the sense of Congress that—"…"(2) crowdsourcing and citizen science projects have a number of additional unique benefits, including accelerating scientific research, increasing cost effectiveness to maximize the return on taxpayer dollars, addressing societal needs, providing hands-on learning in STEM, and connecting members of the public directly to Federal science agency missions and to each other."

  • 2015 "OSTP Citizen Science Memo" to agency heads from the Director of the White House's Office of Science and Technology Policy, entitled Addressing Societal and Scientific Challenges through Citizen Science and Crowdsourcing. This memo articulates principles that Federal agencies should embrace to derive the greatest value and impact from citizen science and crowdsourcing projects. The memo also directs agencies to take specific actions to advance citizen science and crowdsourcing, including designating an agency-specific coordinator for citizen science and crowdsourcing projects, and cataloguing citizen science and crowdsourcing projects that are open for public participation on a new, centralized website created by the General Services Administration: making it easy for people to find out about and join in these projects.

  • 2013 Open Government National Action Plan The United States has worked both domestically and internationally to ensure global support for Open Government principles to promote transparency; fight corruption; energize civic engagement; and leverage new technologies in order to strengthen the foundations of freedom in our own Nation and abroad. In support of these principles domestically, the first U.S. Open Government National Action Plan (NAP) includes a set of 26 commitments that have increased public integrity, enhanced public access to information, improved management of public resources, and given the public a more active voice in the U.S. Government’s policy-making process.

  • USDA and Forest Service policy and national strategies support the practices of crowdsourcing and citizen science. Some examples include:

    • The FS Strategic Plan FY 2015-2020 emphasizes community engagement for restoration outcomes and connecting people to the outdoors.

    • Citizen science and crowdsourcing directly support National Priority #3 – Promoting shared stewardship by increasing partnerships and volunteerism;

    • The 2012 Planning Rule requires public involvement in the development of monitoring programs including integrating the practice of multiparty monitoring, and designing and carrying out monitoring along with Indian Tribes;

    • The Integrated Youth Strategy promotes partnerships, conservation education, and place-based experiences in order to develop the next generation of conservation stewards and leaders;

    • The 2013 Inventory, Monitoring, and Assessment Strategy highlights the need for landscape scale conservation, working with partners, collaboration on management and monitoring questions, quality data, open data practices and sharing information across organizational boundaries;

    • The Forest Service Digital Services Strategic Framework and U.S. Digital Service Playbook describe strategies to make open data, content and web api's the standard, and deliver better services using modern technologies;

    • The Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program was established by Congress in Title IV of the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 to encourage the collaborative, science-based ecosystem restoration of priority forest landscapes. Many of these projects include community engagement and citizen science opportunities.

    • The USDA Environmental Justice Strategic Plan: 2016-2020 addresses meeting the needs of minority and low-income populations by reducing disparate environmental burdens, removing barriers to participation in decision making, increasing access to environmental benefits that help make all communities safe, vibrant and healthy places to live and work, and ensuring all populations are allowed to share in the benefits of Government programs and activities.

  • USFS Guides to Multiparty Monitoring information on definitions, applicability and setting up multiparty monitoring programs. "Multiparty monitoring brings together people with different perspectives, who jointly identify monitoring questions and methods to answer those questions. Multiparty monitoring can help reduce conflict over proposed actions by providing a way for people with diverse views to discuss, and reach agreement about, appropriate management activities." See Webinar Session X for how the 2012 Planning Rule Policy supports multiparty monitoring, a form of citizen science.

  • Multi-party Monitoring National Forest Foundation tools, resources, webinars, training and case studies. See Webinar Session X for how the 2012 Planning Rule Policy supports multi-party monitoring and citizen science.

  • USFS GTR-680 - Broadening Participation in Biological Monitoring: Handbook for Scientists and Managers This handbook was written for managers and scientists in the United States who are contemplating a participatory approach to monitoring biological resources. Participatory (collaborative, multiparty, citizen, volunteer) monitoring is a process that...reflects the understanding that natural resource decisions are more effective and less controversial when stakeholders who have an interest in the results are involved in the process. See Webinar Session X for how the 2012 Planning Rule Policy supports multi-party monitoring and citizen science.

  • Peer reviewed publications are in TreeSearch.

  • Protocol for Citizen Science Monitoring of Urban Trees The Bloomington Urban Forest Research Group developed the Planted Tree Re-inventory Protocol which provides tree-planting organizations of all types with standardized methods to inventory the survival and growth of planted trees in urban areas. The protocol was designed for minimally-trained volunteers or citizen scientists to use. This article defines citizen science, its use to date, and what measurements to target and provides a link to the protocol guide and data sheets. Citation: Vogt, J.M. and B.C. Fischer 2014. A protocol for citizen science monitoring of urban trees. Cities and the Environment, 7(2):4. https://digitalcommons.lmu.edu/cate/vol7/iss2/4/

  • The Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) Program is an international science and education program that provides students and the public worldwide with the opportunity to participate in data collection and the scientific process, and contribute meaningfully to our understanding of the Earth system and global environment. See Webinar Session X to explore ways the Forest Service can connect to GLOBE for citizen science, education, and community engagement.

  • Download the Natural Inquirer: Citizen Science - A free science journal is written for middle and high school students, Natural Inquirer follows the same format as a scientific article to help kids learn and love science. It includes examples of project to get involved in and classroom activities.

  • The My Public Lands Junior Ranger: Citizen Scientists at Work! activity book created by the Bureau of Land Management. Read about people who are volunteering as citizen scientists to help the BLM manage and protect public lands. Learn about cool citizen science projects that you and your family can do-- like observing the night sky, creating monarch habitat, surveying stream life, and photographing birds’ nests.

  • The Girl Scouts have launched Think Like a Citizen Scientists Journey - Troop leaders guide the Girl Scouts on this journey. A small, curated list of projects await you on your SciStarter Journey Dashboard. After you and your troop select one of the projects, you will enter data, together, online.  After the first citizen science project is completed as a troop, they can move on to Take Action and document their Take Action projects on SciStarter, too. Then, all girls will be free to discover, find, and participate in all types of citizen science projects with their families.

  • Celebrating Wildflowers this Forest Service page has information and materials for forest visitors and educators about wildflowers including excellent teacher guides and citizen science projects for the monarch butterfly.

  • FSNatureLive brings nature learning to you through our series of webcasts, webinars, and online education resources. No matter where you are in the world, visit our LIVE programs for exciting, on-site learning about bats, butterflies, climate change, wetlands, and more! Each topic area contains teacher resources including related citizen science projects that your students can participate in.

  • PLUM Landing USFS partnership with WGBH, the primary provider of PBS Kids programming for Public Television provides science activities designed for children ages 6-9 (and their families), and most are available in both English and Spanish. There are apps and videos, and activities for families, afterschool programs, clubs, and summer camps.

Given the collaborative nature of citizen science, partnerships are often key to citizen science efforts. Partners in citizen science include schools and teachers, local and national non-profit groups, universities, state and local government and other federal agencies. Partners contribute to Forest Service citizen science projects in many different ways including helping to form research questions, recruiting. training and managing volunteers, collecting and analyzing data, and many more.

  • How to Work with Us: The Partnerships 101 page of the Forest Service website has the “How to” information for any stage of collaboration starting with understanding the Forest Service, legal requirements, funding and other details. To learn more about our Volunteers program visit the Volunteers homepage.

  • Land Use Permits: If your project takes place on National Forest System land, check with the local national forest or grassland office to see if there are any land use permits and permissions you must obtain before starting your citizen science project. Permit requirements vary by local unit.

  • Who to Contact: If you are interested in starting a partnership, see list of partnership contacts. To find contact information for the specific national forest or grassland where you are interested in working, visit the Forest Service homepage and select the location from the dropdown, once you're on their website look for the ‘Contact Information’ located on the bottom left of the page. The local district office will also likely connect you with the resource specialist (i.e. District Wildlife Biologist, Forest Botanist) who is the local Forest Service expert.

  • To find a list of Forest Service Projects: Visit our Projects page and the Federal Catalog of citizen science projects where you can search by Agency sponsor. You can also check volunteers.gov.

Webinars

These webinar recordings are from the monthly meetings of the Forest Service Crowdsourcing and Citizen Science Community of Practice (FSCCS). During the first two years (2015-2017), the Community was internal and those webinars are made available to external audiences here for informational purposes. Currently, the community of practice is open to all audiences and new webinar recordings will be updated frequently. Webinars take place the first Wednesday of every month at 13:00 hrs ET.

Forest Service Crowdsourcing and Citizen Science Community of Practice (FSCCS)

Date: Sept. 15, 2021

Video Presentation: https://www.fs.usda.gov/eng/webinars/chronolog/chronolog.html

Chronolog is a photo point monitoring tool that serves multiple purposes through connections to citizen science, scientific research of changes in landscapes, as well as interpretation, visitor experiences, and education. With a simple, accessible workflow for participants, Chronolog supports consistent visual capture of a landscape through a standardized, fixed bracket at the site that orients a participant’s phone in a direction intended by the site owner. Chronolog is currently used by the National Parks Service, Bureau of Land Management, and the Fish and Wildlife Service to monitor for landscape changes related to restoration projects, fire (including prescribed fire), invasive species, erosion, and more.

Presenters:

  • Jake Rose, Coordinator, Chronolog

  • Laura Brennan, Biologist, National Park Service

Also See:

AGOL (ArcGIS Online) Tools For Citizen Science

Date: Jan. 24th, 2017

Video Presentation: https://vimeo.com/201301263 (Note: There are some audio issues at the beginning of the recording)

We start by introducing you to the technical support network of the USFS with an overview of the CIO and GMO. Plan to attend this webinar if you are new to ArcGIS Online or want to know the latest on Web GIS and how ArcGIS Online supports the creation of location based information products. The first in a series of tech transfers focusing on how to create and manage crowdsourcing and citizen science apps, this webinar is an ArcGIS Online overview. The capabilities to be covered include analysis, smart mapping, data enrichment, and communicating your project initiatives using a rich set of configurable templates.

Presenters:

  • Tim Clark: Esri Solution Engineer, is the primary technical resource providing Esri software expertise for the account management team managing the US Department of Agriculture Forest Service.  Tim also supports the Department of Agriculture and Department of Interior.  Tim has worked with Esri technology since 1987 in different roles and market sectors including local government, private consulting, federal government and for the last 19+ years with Esri.

Also see:

Date: April 26th, 2017

Video Presentation: mp4 video

Continuing the series of tech transfers about how to collect, manage, analyze, and visualize crowdsourcing and citizen science project with ArcGIS tools, this next session focuses on easily creating forms to get your project off the ground. This webinar will help you understand the benefits of public participation in scientific research. Christine Buckel from NOAA's National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science will describe their citizen science app collecting crowd sourced water level information informing weather and model predications, and providing data to scientists and the public. Charmel Menzel, Esri, will provide tips on getting started. We will give a recap of ArcGIS data collection apps, a NOAA example of GeoForm data collection embedded into a Story Map, and show how to create your first GeoForm app: https://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=931653256fd24301a84fc77955914a82

Presenters:

  • Charmel Menzel: GIS Solution Engineer on the Esri National Government Team based in Vienna, VA.  Charmel has worked with ArcGIS technology since 1994 first being introduced to GIS while working at the World Wildlife Fund and then cementing her desire to pursue a career in GIS while supporting a federal contract.  During her tenure at Esri, Charmel has worked with state, local and federal agencies.

  • Christine Buckel: Ecologist at NOAA's National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science located in Beaufort, NC.  She has been with NOAA since 2001.  Christine utilizes GIS while working on a variety of topics, including endangered species, fish & habitat conservation, and sea level rise

Also see:

Date: July 19, 2017

Video Presentation: VIDEO NO LONGER AVAILABLE

Continuing the series of tech transfers on how to collect, manage, analyze and visualize crowdsourcing and citizen science projects with ArcGIS tools, this next session focuses on creating a publicly available data collection app using Survey123 for ArcGIS.

Presenters:

  • Esther Godson and Damien Hoffman: USFS National Technology & Development Program. They will discuss the Accessible Feature Survey FSAD app created by the Outdoor Recreation For Everyone team. The project collects USFS Accessibility data for outdoor recreation sites from employees and volunteers utilizing Survey123.

  • Charmel Menzel: Esri, will get you started with Survey123 and show you how to take advantage of the ArcGIS platform to analyze and visualize your data. These apps will work on a smartphone, laptop, or desktop as a native app and in a web browser.

Also see: