October 21, 2006

Jointly Sponsored by:

Nisqually Reach Nature Center

Nisqually River Council

The Russell Family Foundation

Puget Sound Action Team

Through the development of the Citizen Science Conference, NRNC established itself as a clearinghouse for research findings in the Nisqually Basin and now, throughout the larger South Puget Sound region. The updated research compendium will allow citizens to familiarize themselves with ongoing research; feedback from the conference suggested a desire for annual gatherings.

Completion of study findings on fish, invertebrate, and bird use of restored salt marshes in Red Salmon Slough were paramount in establishing the center as a research partner. The findings resulted in two separate presentations at the conference.

The first, more technical presentation from Chris Ellings of the Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge incorporated the painstaking invertebrate identification data from NRNC. Chris praised the Nature Center for our hard work, technical precision, and the important contributions the data make to understanding the Nisqually delta food web.

Daniel Hull also presented more generally on the citizen involvement in scientific data collection covering topics ranging from the use of volunteers to monitor birds in restored estuarine habitat, to invertebrate identification. Daniel stressed the impact and success of volunteer involvement in research monitoring and how successful programs using volunteers are organized and managed. Several new volunteers identified themselves as wanting to get involved in future citizen science efforts at the center.

We all thought the conference went off extremely well and was considered engaging by all participants. The range of topics covered, the plain language used by presenters, and the length of presentations were all aspects praised by participants. Because we had so many great presentations, however, the schedule dictated the need for concurrent sessions and many participants complained about having to choose between them.