Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
the result of the cull, done professionally, to good use. Suburban herds can of er
residents and local charities high-quality, locally sourced food and leather. Su-
birdia, we may learn, is able to promote health, aesthetic, economic, and utili-
tarian values. A diversity of returns may motivate a greater number of residents
to conserve and foster a healthy ecosystem than any one factor alone is capable
of doing.
The myriad services that our ecosystem provides are understood through ob-
servation, experience, and study. Citizen science programs of er an enjoyable
way to learn, while collecting information essential to conservation. In Wash-
ington, D.C., for example, several hundred families work with biologists from
the Smithsonian Institution to capture, band, and monitor birds living in
their backyards. Citizens extend the scientists' eyes into the private habitats
and habits of birds that live in urban, suburban, and rural settings. Scientists
teach the citizens how to observe, record, and organize data detailing bird
behavior, nest locations, and the fate of each breeding attempt. By working
together, scientists and citizens learn more about birds from each other than
either could learn by working alone. And the birds benei t as homeowners take
responsible actions, such as planting shrubs, to benei t their feathered tenants.
Beyond increasing their scientii c literacy, resident citizen scientists increase
their appreciation for wildlife generally, and, as they become more aware of
life and its needs in their backyards, they increase their sense of place.
Citizen scientists, what some call amateurs, have long played an impor-
tant role in discovery. On my bookshelf rests the work of several citizen scien-
tists. Included are recent journals of observed crow behavior and older
journals of exploration. My favorite and oft consulted was written by Meri-
wether Lewis and William Clark, citizen scientists dispatched in the early
