Project BudBurst (budburst.org) is a citizen science project focused on monitoring plant phenology that resides at the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON, Inc). A central question for Project BudBurst and other national outreach programs is: what are the most effective means of engaging and connecting with diverse communities throughout the country? How can continental scale programs like NEON’s Project BudBurst engage audiences in such a way as to be relevant at both the local and continental scales?
To address these questions, Project BudBurst staffed pursued partnerships with several continental scale organizations and institutions that are found across the country: the National Wildlife Refuge System, the National Park Service, and botanic gardens. The distributed nature of wildlife refuges, national parks, and botanic gardens provided the opportunity to connect with participants locally while working with leadership both nationally and locally. Project BudBurst staff talked with hundreds of staff and volunteers prior to setting a goal of obtaining and developing resources for a total of 12 Refuge Partners, a pilot National Park partner, and an existing botanic garden partner during 2011. Specifically, we were interested in learning best practices for future partnerships.
Results/Conclusions
Partnership efforts resulted in resource development for 9 Refuge partners with 5 additional Refuge partners under way, a pilot National Park partner, and draft resources for a botanic garden partner. The importance of working with national level leaders to develop ownership of the partner program and input about resource needs became apparent early on. Once a framework for the partnership program was laid out, it became critical to work closely with staff and volunteers on the ground to ensure needs were met.
As the year progressed, the timeline for resource development became more of a suggestion than a set schedule. Maintaining flexibility was critical to the success of the partnerships. Unanticipated fieldwork, new priorities within organizations, and differing levels of involvement from partner staff, advisory boards, or Friends groups, led to varying resource development timelines.
The distributed nature of and the willingness of partner staff and volunteers to implement Project BudBurst at their facilities have broadened participation of the public in this program more than could have been accomplished alone. New partners benefit from free and customized education and outreach materials provided by Project BudBurst, while Project BudBurst benefits from local knowledge and contacts with the public from partner organizations.