Plants of Concern is a long-term rare plant monitoring program coordinated by the Chicago Botanic Garden within the Chicago Wilderness Region (IL, IN, WI). Since 2001, more than 375 trained volunteers have used standardized protocols to census 600 populations of almost 200 rare plant species. Data include population size and area, threats including invasive species, and management activities. The scientific goal is to assess the status of rare plants over time in relation to management activities.  The education/conservation goal is to train citizen scientists as a reliable and valid source of data as a means of leveraging scarce agency resources and to heighten their understanding of science as applied to conservation.  The questions posed in this presentation are whether volunteer-gathered data are reliable and whether citizen scientists are developing a more critical scientific view of conservation issues. To explore these questions, POC conducted a volunteer data validation study in 2004-2005 when staff and volunteers separately conducted identical monitoring protocols on randomly selected populations.  In 2008 POC led a Focus Group, as a followup to general volunteer surveys, of new and experienced volunteers to learn about “before and after” attitudes towards citizen science and its scientific value.

Results/Conclusions

In the validation study, 45 populations were separately monitored by volunteers and staff; the 10 most relevant of 29 fields were analyzed using summary statistics.  Data was captured in discrete numerical, categorical, and nominal forms. Sample results show a high correspondence between volunteers and staff on population area and numerical counts, on population estimates, on categories of deer browse, and on burning evidence. Volunteer surveys in 2004 and 2007 showed most respondents personally benefited from their monitoring experience, felt recognized for their contributions and felt their data had an influence on land manager decisions.  A 2008 Focus Group explored the attitudes of experienced citizen scientists compared with those of new volunteers. Those with experience shared views on their training and abilities to gather accurate data, the significance of their contributions toward scientific knowledge of rare plants, and the change in their understanding of the scientific process and conservation as a result of their participation in monitoring.  The inexperienced volunteers were used to provide a baseline for learning attitudes toward and expectations for this scientific effort. Focus Group results are being analyzed and will be presented.  The discussion will address the limitations and contributions of citizen science to the scientific process.