Hello! My name is Elizabeth (Lizzie) Rush and I am the SIP Fellow at Yosemite National Park. I am a second-year master’s student at George Mason University studying environmental science and policy and conservation biology. My time at Yosemite has been spent leading a crew conduct ing pollinator surveys to create an inventory list for park managers. Our crew has also spent time working with the public to increase engagement in community science. Working with the public and volunteers in the park has been valuable for developing my science communication skills. I was able to teach the public about the importance and role of pollinators in our national parks and helped foster public interest in land stewardship.
Our work has utilized protocols and trainings from the Pollinator Hotshots project and the California Bumble Bee Atlas. Pollinator Hotshots is a project started by the Bowser/Halliwell Lab at Colorado State University (CSU), that aims to increase data available on pollinators in our national parks while increasing community engagement with science. The California Bumble Bee Atlas is a project established by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Xerces Society to help monitor native bumble bees within the state of California.
Citizen/community science data can be incredibly useful for park managers. Having access to a large dataset that is regularly updated by the public (like iNaturalist) can aide managers in assessing phenology, species distribution, and more. Platforms such as iNaturalist can be used to crowdsource taxonomic identification. By utilizing community science data we will be able to draw from a much larger dataset than if it were just our team collecting data in the field.
Find out more about Yosemite National Park: https://www.nps.gov/yose/index.htm
Learn more about the Pollinator Hotshots project at Yosemite National Park here: https://yosemite.org/projects/yosemite-pollinator-hotshots/
Learn more about the California Bumble Bee Atlas: https://www.cabumblebeeatlas.org/about.html
Join our iNaturalist project and contribute to community science in Yosemite National Park: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/yose-pollinators-2022