http://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification 720 https://escholarship.org/uc/ucd_ccs/rss Recent eScholarship items from Center for Community and Citizen Science Fri, 4 Sep 2026 19:46:14 +0000 https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2995900q Immersive visualization tools offer new opportunities for supporting community wildfire adaptation and landscape design. Using a case study from rural California, this paper evaluates 360-degree visualizations of fire-resilient landscapes developed with AI-assisted image editing. We assess the strengths, limitations, and ethical considerations of these tools through community engagement and interviews, demonstrating how site-specific visualizations can support understanding, dialogue, and decision-making around defensible space and wildfire resilience. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2995900q Sat, 20 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Schlickman, Emily Saiki, Micah Angulo, Sarah Eitzel, M.V. Meyer, Ryan Konklin, Craig https://escholarship.org/uc/item/1t45r3gk How establishing a marine protected area network has shaped community and citizen science along California's coast https://escholarship.org/uc/item/1t45r3gk Tue, 16 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Harwell, Todd A Meyer, Ryan M Ballard, Heidi L https://escholarship.org/uc/item/81m1q7bx As educators and researchers, we are focused on joining young people in the work of learning, doing, and using science to improve the world we share. This means thinking about young people as community leaders and people who do science. We also need to understand and strengthen the connection between “learning science” and “making change in the world.” The concept of environmental science agency (ESA) helps us do this. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/81m1q7bx Tue, 5 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0000 UC Davis Center for Community and Citizen Science https://escholarship.org/uc/item/7dk0n74m Instead of studying nature alone on a pedestal, treating humans, plants, and animals as one social ecological system (SES) can be valuable for meaningful learning about environmental stewardship and science. Our research shows that using YCCS as a way to engage young people in thinking about complex interactions between human and nature can promote sophisticated reasoning, access to student’s funds of knowledge, and connection to place. In the case studies below, read more about how educators encourage young people to grapple with the world around them. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/7dk0n74m Tue, 5 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0000 UC Davis Center for Community and Citizen Science https://escholarship.org/uc/item/1k40r7b9 Youth ownership of data quality is the practice of giving young people responsibility for high quality CCS data collection and analysis. As young people gain expertise through practice, they can then be positioned to regulate data collection and analyses for themselves and their peers. We found that creating opportunities for students to be responsible for data collection and analysis helped them understand data and the role of data in scientific endeavors, and develop a sense of ownership around their work in YCCS. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/1k40r7b9 Tue, 5 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0000 UC Davis Center for Community and Citizen Science https://escholarship.org/uc/item/0zk9b3pw Sharing what you’ve learned is fundamental to Youth-focused Community and Citizen Science, yet the audiences and uses of data and findings are often invisible to participants. Involving youth directly in sharing findings with outside audiences is one way to (1) further motivate, (2) help youth review and reflect on what youth are learning, and (3) diversify the products, processes and people involved in YCCS. With the case studies and resources, read more about this key practice, why we think it is important to learning in YCCS, and the different forms it can take—from scientific posters, to blogs, to conversations with community members. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/0zk9b3pw Tue, 5 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0000 UC Davis Center for Community and Citizen Science https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4f89v0b5 This report highlights the breadth and depth of community and citizen science (CCS) contributions to California’s Marine Protected Area (MPA) program priorities and goals as well as participant contributions and outcomes. We examined the CCS efforts of 10 MPA monitoring projects that received baseline and/or long-term funding from the State. They involved 84,000 participants, 476,000 volunteer hours, 528 monitoring sites, and 100 partner organizations, agencies, institutions, and groups. Beyond the 10 baseline and long-term monitoring projects, there are more than 60 additional CCS projects conducting research and monitoring along the California coast. Though demographic data have not been formally collected or reported from these programs, several programs (including two Tribally-led programs) make explicit efforts to engage underrepresented and underserved communities. Though there were more participants in the north and central California coast, the south coast hosted a higher... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4f89v0b5 Fri, 11 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000 Meyer, Ryan Korabik, Angela Harwell, Todd Petersen, Nicholas Ballard, Heidi https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3j0773z1 Information about human activities along the coast can help us understand human impacts on natural resources and the benefits people derive from marine protected areas (MPAs). In this project we examined human activities along the California coast from 2012 to 2020 using data from the MPA Watch community science network, gathered by more than 1,900 volunteer participants, and a handful of program staff. MPA Watch is gathering useful data at a statewide scale, and has successfully grown its network of volunteer monitoring programs over the last decade to include 12 local programs, 104 monitoring sites, and hundreds of volunteer surveyors each year. Among the observations recorded by MPA Watch surveyors, non-consumptive recreational activities vastly outnumber consumptive activities like fishing, both inside and outside of MPAs. This highlights the value of MPA Watch data for understanding human coastal use, underscores the importance of recreational activities in California’s coastal... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3j0773z1 Fri, 11 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000 Eitzel, M.V. Meyer, Ryan Ulle, Nick Oldach, Eliza Lubell, Mark Dobbins, Michael https://escholarship.org/uc/item/0151m04k Environmental monitoring is an important component of dam removal and watershed restoration. One way to meet the need for environmental monitoring is to involve local communities and organizations through citizen science. Citizen science can help to gather important data about changes in a watershed, while also building and sustaining community engagement in watershed restoration. We have developed a comprehensive Manual to support planning and implementation of citizen science activities in the context of dam removal and watershed restoration. This Quick Guide summarizes the key recommendations found in the main document (found at https://doi.org/10.58076/C6159T). You can use this guide as a starting point, and then delve in further to explore the Manual’s detailed considerations for the different stages of, and types of, citizen science, and to connect with additional resources that can help you plan a project. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/0151m04k Fri, 11 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000 Meyer, Ryan Ballard, Heidi Jadallah, Christopher https://escholarship.org/uc/item/20n5g00g Involving the public in watershed research and monitoring through a community and citizen science approach offers project funders and partners the opportunity to gather important data about target environmental parameters and build and sustain community engagement in watershed restoration. The UC Davis Center for Community and Citizen Science has developed this manual to guide groups in their planning and implementation of community and citizen science activities for dam removal and for river restoration more generally. This document is based on the experience of the authors and a wealth of academic publications and other literature, including resources from many other community and citizen science programs that have tackled challenges related to volunteer monitoring in watersheds. The manual includes guidance on: deciding whether community and citizen science is appropriate for your project, given your goals and context; how to build a team with the capacity to support the project,... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/20n5g00g Thu, 10 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000 Meyer, Ryan Ballard, Heidi Jadallah, Christopher https://escholarship.org/uc/item/1ck6z060 This report reflects on the past, present, and potential future of community and citizen science (CCS) in the Elwha River watershed, with particular focus on the years before and after a major restoration event: the removal of two dams that had impacted the river system for a century. We ask: how does CCS feature in the Elwha story and how could it feature? We use the term CCS to reference the broad range of ways in which members of the public might participate in authentic science and monitoring processes, including students and both paid and unpaid interns: participants are individuals contributing to scientific projects without prior formal training in the topic. We present insights about Elwha CCS from an academic literature review and discussions with scientists and many others that have been working in the Elwha. We found that the history of CCS on the Elwha is important but understated, with few scientific papers acknowledging support by volunteers of various kinds. Recent... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/1ck6z060 Mon, 7 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000 Eitzel, M.V. Morley, Sarah Behymer, Chelsea Meyer, Ryan Kagley, Anna Ballard, Heidi Jadallah, Christopher Duda, Jeffrey Jennings, Laurel Miller, Ian Stapleton, Justin Shaffer, Anne Miller, Allyce Shafroth, Patrick Blackie, Barbara