From citizen scientist to steward: Does engagement effect volunteer monitoring outcomes?

Keywords: Citizen Science, Watershed, Governance, Public Engagement, Qualitative Methods, Science and Technology Studies, Capacity, Water Resources, Volunteer
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Monday
Session Start / End Time: 2/28/2022 03:40 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 2/28/2022 05:00 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 47

Abstract

Many scholars have researched how volunteer water monitoring programs (VWMPs) increase a community’s capacity to identify and respond to significant environmental threats. We have analyzed how differing levels of public involvement in a VWMP influence the impact that program has on water resource policy, if at all. In 2009 Bonney et al. created a typology for citizen science programs that classified them based on how much non-experts were involved in the scientific process. We hypothesized that VWMPs on the high participation end of the spectrum (co-created programs) would be more successful at influencing water resource management than programs on the low participation end of the spectrum (contributory programs). To explore this, we developed case studies of six Montana VWMPs, primarily from interviews with volunteers, program directors, and local decision makers.

Our work suggests that volunteers in contributory programs did not express an awareness of the impacts of their work, while volunteers in co-created programs were more likely to directly participate in water resource management. More engaged volunteers took personal conservation action or motivated and informed their neighbors. We also considered how program origins effect their outcomes, finding that programs founded in response to specific crisis events or constructed around narrow ecological concerns may be more effective at diffusing information and trust in the program through a watershed community. This diffusion process can potentially increase community willingness to participate in conservation activities and support future collaborations to protect and restore water resources at the watershed scale.