For over thirty years, Earthwatch Institute has been supporting research in protected areas around the world, from community marine reserves to renowned national parks. A panel of invited speakers at the George Wright Society Biennial Conference, in San Diego, California, highlights the fact that Earthwatch teams do much more than collect data for the effective management of these areas.
In an April 14 session called "The value of volunteers as data collectors in protected areas: the Earthwatch experience," five speakers gave different perspectives on the participation of team members in field research. These include two former principal investigators of Earthwatch projects sited in protected areas, two Earthwatch staff members, and a veteran team member of Earthwatch expeditions conspicuously named George Wright.
"Volunteers add to a researcher's capacity by adding eyes and ears to scan a data-rich landscape and adding backs and limbs to muscle through difficult field work," said David Lowe, program director for life sciences at Earthwatch. "They can also become effective advocates for the use of science in managing our protected natural and cultural heritage."
The multiple benefits of involving volunteers in field research were echoed in the comments of Dr. Lilian Alessa (University of Alaska), former principal investigator of Coastal Ecology of British Columbia, and Dr. Ralph Riley, field director of Earthwatch's Conservation Research Initiative in the Pacific Northwest. George Wright and his wife Kathy, veterans of 13 Earthwatch expeditions, described what volunteers have to offer to researchers and what special rewards there are for volunteers working in protected areas.
"Volunteers have become passionate advocates for marine protected area initiatives, valuable fundraisers, and emergency field technicians," said Dr. W.J. Nichols, director of WILDCOAST and former Earthwatch co-principal investigator of Sea Turtles of Baja. "By involving volunteers, a researcher opens his or her project to a higher degree of uncertainty, but it may be these unexpected occurrences that hold the greatest benefits for the project."
Earthwatch was also unofficially represented at the conference in a plenary session on the role of protected areas in environmental justice issues such as indigenous peoples' rights, land tenure, and traditional subsistence uses. The panelists for this important discussion were Dr. James Hoyte (Harvard University), an Earthwatch Board member, and Dr. Jeffrey A. McNeely (IUCN-The World Conservation Union), a member of Earthwatch's International Advisory Council. Dr. Gillian Bowser (Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve), former principal investigator for Earthwatch's Joshua Tree Tortoises project, introduced the session.
The George Wright Society (www.georgewright.org) is a nonprofit association of researchers and other professionals who work on behalf of the scientific and heritage values of protected areas. The society is named after the first chief of the wildlife division of the U.S. National Park Service, George Wright (no relation to the Earthwatch team member), who pioneered the use of science as a management tool in national parks before his untimely death in 1936. Their biennial conference, called "Protecting Our Diverse Heritage: The Role of Parks, Protected Areas, and Cultural Sites," was held in San Diego, California, April 14-18, 2003.
Earthwatch Institute is an international nonprofit organization which supports scientific field research worldwide by offering members of the public unique opportunities to work alongside leading field scientists and researchers. The Institute's mission is to engage people worldwide in scientific field research and education to promote the understanding and action necessary for a sustainable environment.