The Acadia Bug Project: Getting folks into waders and park science

How do you get National Park visitors to care about the intricacies of mercury movement, insect phenology and food web effects? You talk to them while they are knee deep in mud and holding a dragonfly larva! My project worked with citizen scientists to collect meaningful biological data on aquatic and terrestrial insect abundance, but the biggest accomplishment was introducing all sorts of people (young and old) to the fun of field biology! By working alongside actual biologists, the visitors learned not only about monitoring contaminants but also about what a career as a field biologist entails.