You can still grow up to be a scientist

As a naturalist, personal satisfaction and the firm belief that what you are doing will make the natural world a better place was always a large part of the paycheck. Yes, with little doubt or surprise, being a naturalist doesn't make one wealthy in a monetary sense. Don't get me wrong, it can be a comfortable living but affording fancy cars and summer homes are rare commodities. But on the flipside, such things tend to be of little worth to someone with a true passion for nature. Without regret or envy and with true understanding that this line of work is not for everyone, I always understood why so many nature lovers opted to travel down more profitable roads. While I literally traveled down a dark and deep nighttime trail in search of a completely different reward, most likely that of an owl, and personal achievement and satisfaction notwithstanding, I did this with 20, highly anticipatory people in tow. And I did so with great success! Yet, through all of these years, there have always been two things that kinda … sorta, bothered me. One was: Am I making a real difference? And the other was: Why do so many people tell me that they wish they had my job? Unlike cutting the grass or painting a wall, the results of "teaching nature" aren't immediately apparent. And unlike teaching school, nature programs are basically momentary, and there is no test at the end of the lesson to gage success. Thus, a naturalist must exist within the realm where hopefulness fuels the course forward and where an occasional comment or note might support an increment of accomplishment. Yes, being a naturalist, or any profession working in nature, is not for everyone. So, how did I answer those that told me that they wished they had selected a career in nature? In a word, poorly. While a very few might have made the jump to a nature career, most just commented idealistically. I believe that most who commented might have been caught up in the moment, like after seeing a mink hunt a log jam. In reality, their lives and careers were just fine and their overall situation very comfortable. While they might have a true and real love for nature, their present expression was just fleeting. Today, through the advancement of Citizen Science opportunities, answering such questions would be much easier and much more fulfilling. The concept of Citizen Science has been around for a long time, but participatory prospects were quite limited. Things like participating on an Audubon Christmas Bird Count or volunteering at a nature center would be good examples. Over the last few decades, however, Citizen Science opportunities have advanced in both number and diversity and in importance. "Lay" participation in many studies has become the backbone of success and advancement. Moreover, many nature studies cannot be considered without a large participation of non-scientific volunteers. Sometimes the needed participation is exceedingly casual and requires absolutely no attention or training, unless you see something. A good example of this is the monitoring of the advancement of alien invasive species with the range expansion of the spotted lanternfly as a great example. As played out, you may have never heard of this insect, but when this weird thing showed up on your patio table (which happened to me) you reacted and your reaction might have provided the opportunity to fill out a quick and simple online form that documents the location of the bug. While you didn't solve the threat presented by this introduced species, you did help to provide researchers with a data point of knowledge about the critter. (And then you were asked to dispatch the insect, which does cut down its population by, at least, one.) Other forms of Citizen Science participation can be a little more scheduled, like participating in a bioblitz. Here several diverse professionals scour a habitat and try to identify all of the plants and animals contained within and to do so in less than a day. This impossible task is only possible through the assistance of dozens of volunteers. After a short, onsite, basic training, participants help to collect and document organisms. The result of such studies leads to development and/or refinement of natural resource management plans. In a different realm, archeological digs take a similar approach to bioblitz's. How would you feel if you dug up the next important artifact? Individual participatory programs, like monarch butterfly tagging, are great Citizen Science programs. After a level of training, citizens go into the field to tag and document monarchs in late August and early September. Since each tag is unique, the discovery of this insect down the road provides incredible insight into this insect's movements and migration. Bird banding works in the same manner but usually requires more training and usually a direct connection to an organized researcher or facility. Of course I have to mention birding. Cornell University developed a mobile app called eBird. This app is free and allows just about anyone to enter data -- species, numbers, date and location -- of their bird sightings. Since eBird is global, this has created the largest database of bird information on Earth. And just about all of it is citizen-based. As a thank you, the app keeps bird sighting lists for you. While there are dozens of other examples worthy of description, it is impossible to list them all here. So, if you want to make a quick search to see if there is anything that might interest you, here are some great websites to visit. USA.gov/citizen-science scistarter.org zooniverse.org In a sense, even fulltime naturalists are Citizen Scientists, and retired naturalists like me are even more so relegated to the ranks of Citizen Science. That's a very comfortable place for me, and I will certainly enjoy finding ways to make contributions in the name of nature.