Monitoring Threatened Species and Ecological Communities

(Ben Green) #1
28 – What makes a successful citizen science program?^363

the regent honeyeater releases in Chiltern-Mount Pilot National Park in
conjunction with Taronga Zoo allowed participants to radio-track released birds).
A feeling of being able to contribute and make a difference, combined with an
interest in being outdoors or within a natural environment, have been identified as
being important to volunteers across a range of citizen science programs (Weston
et al. 2003; Roy et al. 2012).
To maximise recruitment and retention in a project, BirdLife has found that,
from the outset, a project needs to be clearly defined as a citizen science program,
and have clear aims and methods. Clear program objectives, and clear expectations
placed on participants, are important when engaging with a non-scientific
audience, and allows participants to understand how their actions can contribute
to project or program goals. For example, BirdLife’s Powerful Owl project in
Sydney was initiated in 2011 in response to a request from a community member
who had observed powerful owls Ninox strenua in their neighbourhood and
wanted to know what they could do to help retain the species’ roosting and
breeding habitat (Bain et al. 2014). By working with the community, a monitoring
project was developed with clearly defined aims, so participants could see how
their monitoring data contributed to the conservation of the species. The project
has had around 400 participants since its inception, but it is the commitment of a
core group of ~20 individuals that continues to drive the project. Those who have
stayed the duration of the project have developed into highly skilled volunteers
who have considerable ownership of the project. In addition to the science in this
project, the community group has developed a mentoring program, providing a
way for established volunteers to train new volunteers. Although this is
administrated by BirdLife Australia, the mentors are all community members.
Once engaged, retention of volunteers is essential. Many of BirdLife Australia’s
projects invest heavily in volunteer training and workshops. There are several
benefits to training (e.g. improves confidence of participants and ensures data
quality) but the development of new skills also contributes to the retention of
participants in a program (Roy et al. 2012). Training does not always need to be
provided by the managing organisation and there may be some advantages in
having the community members drive the training (and mentoring) because it can
contribute to feelings of ownership, trust and value. Burnout of highly committed
participants is not uncommon in citizen science programs (Byron and Curtis 2002;
Measham and Barnett 2008) and providing support and mechanisms to deal with
this are important in retaining participants. A strong sense of community and
social cohesion can alleviate the severity of burnout (Cherniss 1980; Byron and
Curtis 2002). Fostering this feeling of community by encouraging volunteers to
support and help one another though formal or informal processes may improve
the retention of participants in a project.
BirdLife’s most successful citizen science program to date in terms of
participants, data collection and conservation outcomes is the Beach-nesting Birds

Free download pdf