Enjoying the outdoors in all seasons is part of Happy Dancing Turtle’s mission to grow good stewards of the planet. Observing all the phenomena of plant and animal life can be fascinating, absorbing, and has a positive impact on our well-being. A perennial favorite blog post enumerates the many benefits on your whole health. But did you there are opportunities to additionally leverage the benefits of your time in nature by becoming part of a citizen science project? Citizen science projects make use of average citizens collecting data to further scientific understanding of an amazing number of topics.
If you are a person who is already outdoors observing nature, with just a bit more effort, citizen science projects can fit into your time already spent outdoors. If you aspire to spend time outdoors, but it never seems to happen, involvement in a citizen science project can be a great motivator. Recently, we reported on photo and caterpillar projects as well as ones focused on aquatic invasive species and birds.
But the variety of opportunities does not stop there.Two more projects that Happy Dancing Turtle staff participate in are Snapshot Wisconsin and the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network.
Snapshot Wisconsin: Taking Trail Cam Photos to the Next Level
Snapshot Wisconsin monitors wildlife year-found with a network of trail cameras hosted by volunteers. Even more volunteers help by classifying the captured images. To date, Snapshot Wisconsin has 20,947 volunteers! Coordinated by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and several partners, Snapshot Wisconsin harnesses the power of volunteers to understand how animal populations change over time.
“Snapshot Wisconsin is a great citizen science project for those rainy days,” says Delaney Dahl, HDT program assistant in the Driftless Region. “Volunteers will use trail cameras on their property, and snapshots from those trail cameras are uploaded online. This is where you come in! After registering for an account, you are able to look through different trail camera photos and identify animals, and how many are present.” This data helps the DNR with wildlife conservation and management, while also helping us understand wildlife behaviors and interactions. Delaney has found that this is a great introduction to the citizen science world, while also seeing some incredible wildlife interactions you otherwise wouldn't experience.
“One feature of Snapshot Wisconsin I really like is the ability to favorite trail camera pictures,” Delaney said. “There have been many times while looking at trail camera pictures where I have laughed out loud at the scene before me, and had my heart melt many times over at the baby animals captured.”
CoCoRaHs: Counting Rain and Snow (and More)
The Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network (CoCoRaHs) is a grassroots volunteer network of backyard weather observers. Pronounced KO-ko-rozz, CoCoRaHs emphasizes education and training. You don't need a special background to join, but must have “an enthusiasm for watching and reporting weather conditions and a desire to learn more about how weather can affect and impact our lives.”
You collect data at your “home site” and it's used to collectively track storms across the whole United States. HDT staffer Jenny has been collecting readings on the Hunt Utilities Group Resilient Living Campus in Pine River since 2022.
Anyone may sign up to participate. There is a simple one-page application to become an official observation station. There is a specific type of rain gauge to purchase which runs about $40-50. Once you are a registered station, your observations become an important part of data collected about precipitation in your area which in turn becomes part of the data known about the whole country. CoCoRaHS is the largest source of daily precipitation data used by the National Weather Service.
Jenny started off simply recording what was in the gauge. “For the first winter, I melted snow that collected in the gauge and then measured that amount of water. For the winter of 23-24, we made a snowboard and started measuring that way in addition to melting the gauge contents.” The CoCoRaHs network administrators send out seasonal training opportunities (which are also available on their website). “So it’s easy to refresh your knowledge when the seasons change about how to record things and what to track.”
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) are major sponsors of CoCoRaHs. The data collected is available to anyone at www.cocorahs.org. Besides the National Weather Service, the data is used by meteorologists, hydrologists, emergency managers, city utilities, insurance adjusters, the United States Department of Agriculture and many, many others.
“What has been interesting is how much rain totals vary. I only live 3.5 miles from campus, but some days when I check the rain gauge there’s a measurable amount but meanwhile at my house, there had been nothing,” said Jenny. “I was surprised to learn that Minnesota has almost 2500 active observation stations. But I guess that further proves all weather is local.”
If you are not a numbers person but would still like to get involved, most citizen science programs have other opportunities. For example, The Minnesota Aquatic Invasive Species Research Center has volunteer opportunities that include mailing surveys or even lending personal boats for research work. If you want to just get your feet wet (that’s a pun) on Aquatic Invasive Species (and/or would like a shorter commitment), learn about participating in the upcoming Starry Trek, a one-day search for aquatic invasive species across Minnesota.
For more information on other HDT staffer citizen science projects, check out Part One and
Part Two of the series.
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