[MPWG] New: Participatory Biological Monitoring Guidelines

[Eric T. Jones]

New: Participatory Biological Monitoring Guidelines

View online or download at:  www.ifcae.org/projects/ncssf3/. Bound versions 
are forthcoming.

Project Title: Broadening Participation in Biological Monitoring: 
Guidelines for Scientists and Managers
Team: David Pilz, Heidi Ballard, Eric T. Jones
Administration: Institute for Culture and Ecology (IFCAE)
Funding: National Commission on Science for Sustainable Forestry

Biological monitoring is essential for understanding environmental change 
but is often expensive.  From the hundred+ year-old Audubon Christmas bird 
count to the EPA's volunteer water quality monitoring to the growing 
multiparty monitoring movement by community-based forestry organizations, 
participatory monitoring has proven to be an effective way to increase 
biological monitoring activities, build support for science, and increase 
public involvement in understanding environmental change.

A goal of this project has been to synthesize the literature and 
stakeholder knowledge on participatory monitoring and create a tool to help 
forest managers and scientists: 1) broaden participation to meet biological 
monitoring needs while maintaining scientific standards, and 2) build 
positive long-term relationships with participants and their local 
communities.  The guidelines are designed as a reference handbook on the 
managerial, scientific, and social considerations of participatory 
monitoring and complement rather than duplicate existing manuals providing 
monitoring methods (e.g., Monitoring Plant and Animal Populations, Elzinga 
et al. 2001).  The guidelines can be scaled to work with any type of 
project whether bottom-up or top-down, large or small, volunteer or small 
contractor.

While oriented toward natural resource managers and scientists in the U.S., 
the guidelines are likely useful to anyone interested in participatory 
biological monitoring.  In creating the materials the interdisciplinary 
team drew from their professional experiences in participatory research, as 
well as the invaluable insight of many advisors and reviewers from the 
University of California Berkeley Cooperative Extension, the Forest Service 
Inventory and Monitoring Institute, Rural Action, the National Network of 
Forest Practitioners, and many others (see report). Much guidance was also 
gained from multistakeholder workshops held throughout the United States 
over the last several years.

The project maintains a network of advisors and consultants to assist with 
local implementation.  Please see the list of organizations provided in the 
appendices or contact the Institute for Culture and Ecology.

Eric T Jones, Ph.D.
Environmental Anthropologist
Institute for Culture and Ecology (501c3)
Post Office Box 6688
Portland, Oregon 97228-6688.  USA
Telephone:  503-331-6681
E-Mail:  etjones at ifcae.org
Website:  www.ifcae.org
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