Earth Matters / Citizen Science

Citizen Science in Grant County with Sharman Apt Russell and Claire Catlett

Citizen science is scientific research conducted, in whole or in part, by amateur or nonprofessional scientists.  Citizen science is a big grassroots movement and it’s happening in communities across the country.  It’s a way to increase the amount of available information on a particular scientific issue, build scientific literacy and community awareness of an issue, and in the case of environmental concerns, help identify and fix environmental problems and build environmental stewardship in communities.

Allyson Siwik, GRIP executive director and co-producer of Earth Matters, hosts this edition of Earth Matters which introduces the concept of citizen science through a reading by Sharman Apt Russell from the 4th Natural History of the Gila Symposium.  Allyson interviews GRIP’s VISTA staffer Claire Catlett about the Silver City Watershed Keepers, a citizen science-based watershed monitoring effort for the Silver City watershed.

For more info on citizen science, check out these websites:

• Gila Resources Information Project’s Silver City Watershed Keepers
• Sharman Apt Russell’s blog about place and our connection to the natural world and more recently about the citizen scientist
• Scientific American’s list of Citizen Science Programs
• Southwest New Mexico Audubon Society – Bird Counts

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Earth Matters / Citizen Science