More people in the United States live in urban (30%) and suburban (50%) areas than live in any other land-use type. More land in the United States is covered by urban and other built up areas (5%) than is preserved by state parks, national parks, and the Nature Conservancy. Americans are visiting natural areas in dramatically fewer numbers – 25% fewer visits to national parks since 1987. Children are spending dramatically less time outdoors – less than 6% of 9 – 13 year-olds venture outside by themselves in a typical week. This combination of circumstances suggests that if we are to increase ecological literacy in the United States, we need to focus on urban dwellers in urban settings. This need provides a perfect opportunity for urban ecologists because research in urban systems can shape efforts to increase ecological literacy while educational efforts in ecological literacy can simultaneously support ecological research.

Results/Conclusions

Several projects have integrated urban research, outreach, and citizen involvement. In this presentation, I will review three of these projects – the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology’s Birds in the City, the University of Minnesota’s Schoolyard Ecology Explorations, and the Monarch Larva Monitoring Project – to establish best practices for successfully implementing programs that both increase environmental literacy and result in useful data on urban ecological questions.