I'd love to talk about the kind of SCIENCE! that saves lives and invents new stuff. Heck, even computer SCIENCE! would be fun. Alas, those are tasks for my work life, not my adventure life. Instead, let's talk about community SCIENCE!

(You may sometimes hear it described as "citizen science", but that's exclusionary language and most organizations are tending toward "community science".)

I can trace our SCIENCE! way, way back in time. When the kids were very, very little we often had SCIENCE! Sundays. I'd dream up some silly activity and add a SCIENCE! component to it. We did things like make ooblek (a non-Newtonian fluid), program Daddy (the kids wrote instructions that I would execute exactly, often running into walls), and the like. It was great for an hour or two of activity where the kids accidentally learned.

Fast forward a couple of years and the girls and I were backpacking in Mount Rainier National Park. Taking pictures of pikas was a highlight. We submitted those pictures to the Pika Project through iNaturalist. Uh oh. This might become a thing.

Indeed it did. We have more than 200 observations logged across 47 different species from all across the country. It's easy to do (just upload a photo and tag it) and free. Scientists use the data for all sorts of studies.

That original Pika Project was coordinated by Adventurers and Scientists for Conservation. It abbreviates well, but is otherwise a mouthful. They've since become Adventure Scientists. Scientists come to them for help gathering data and they recruit and manage adventurers. We've done a ton of work for them and they're an amazing organization to partner with.

Not to say they're the only game in town. We've also participated in projects run by other organizations including non-profits and universities. We find them by accident (a social media post, a news story, whatever) and if they fit our plans we sign up.

Almost all of these community SCIENCE! project offer training to get you started and ensure the data you gather will be good. Some projects are simply about observations while others have strict protocols and provide you with specialized kits for taking collections. None of it requires a background in the sciences. Anyone can participate.

All three of my kids have participated in projects. The oldest is now studying to be an environmental scientist. Did community SCIENCE! influence her? Hard to say, but it gave her a great background in fieldwork.

These are the organizations (and studies) we've participated in. Check them out. Most are still running and recruiting volunteers so join us!

• Adventure Scientists

  • Polinators

    • Forister, M.L., et al. “Fewer Butterflies Seen by Community Scientists Across the Warming and Drying Landscapes of the American West.” Science, Vol. 371, Issue 6533, pp. 1042-1045, 05 Mar 2021, doi: 10.1126/science.abe5585.

    • Prudic, Kathleen L., et al. “Creating the Urban Farmer’s Almanac with Citizen Science Data.” MDPI, Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute, 11 Sept. 2019, doi:10.3390/insects10090294.

    • Prudic, Kathleen L, et al. “EButterfly: Leveraging Massive Online Citizen Science for Butterfly Conservation.” Insects, MDPI, 18 May 2017.

  • Timber Tracking

    • Cronn, Richard C., et al. “Range-wide assessment of a SNP panel for individualization and geolocalization of bigleaf maple (Acer macrophyllum Pursh)” Forensic Science International: Animals and Environments, Vol. 1, 100033, Nov. 2021.

  • Wild and Scenic Rivers

  • Worldwide Diatom Assessment

    • Bahls, Loren L. “The Role of Amateurs in Modern Diatom Research.” Taylor & Francis, Informa UK Limited, 20 Dec. 2014.

    • Bahls, Loren L. “Neidiopsis Hamiltonii Sp. Nov., N. Weilandii Sp. Nov., N. Levanderi and N. Wulffii from Western North America.” Taylor & Francis, Informa UK Limited, 6 Mar. 2014.

    • Bahls, Loren L. “New Diatoms from the American West-A Tribute to Citizen Science.” Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, The Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 1 Mar. 2014.

    • Bahls, Loren L. “Kurtkrammeria, a New Genus of Freshwater Diatoms (Bacillariophyta, Cymbellaceae) Separated from Encyonopsis.” Nova Hedwigia, Schweizerbart’sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1 Aug. 2015.

  • Worldwide Pika Project

    • Smith, Adam B., Erik Beever, et al. 2019. “Alternatives to genetic affinity as a context for within-species response to climate.” Nature Climate Change.

• Cascades Carnivore Project

• Community Snow Observations

• iNaturalist

• Living Snow Project

• Plastic-Free Parks TrashBlitz

Although not a project per se, also check out Seek from iNaturalist. It's like Pokemon Go for nature. If you see something, use the app to scan it. It uses magic to identify what you're scanning. No data is collected by the app and you don't have to register. You may find yourself competing with others, though. Such is life.