Join Conservation Café—a consortium of nine Westchester County-based partners in conservation—on Friday, November 7th (8:30 - 10:30am) at the Westchester County Center in White Plains for People Power: How Citizen Science Is Changing the Way Scientists Work and learn how you can participate in scientific research happening in your own backyard and help make an positive impact on the environment.
Citizen science is professionally-led research conducted in tandem with community-based volunteers. Citizen scientists learn valuable skills in order to collect and submit data, share experiences, and spread essential information all while observing nature with a critical lens. In turn, these large open volunteer networks often allow researchers to accomplish tasks that would be too expensive or time consuming to accomplish through other means.
Speakers for the program include:
Dr. John Rowden—Research and Grants Manager at National Audubon Society—will discuss the large-scale citizen science projects with which he has been involved.
Dr. Chris Nagy—Director of Research and Land Management at Mianus River Gorge—will share how local citizen science initiatives help maintain and restore native communities and ecosystem function across the region.
Dr. Linda Rohleder—Director of Land Stewardship at New York-New Jersey Trails Conference—will speak to her recent efforts leading the citizen-science driven Invasive Strike Force.
A panel discussion with a question-and-answer session will follow the formal presentations. Additionally, a printed listing of local and regional citizen science projects will be distributed.
Registration begins at 8:30 a.m. The program runs from 8:45 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. Admission is free.
Westchester County Center is located at 198 Central Avenue in White Plains, NY 10606.
**Please note: the parking fee at the County Center will be waived for program attendees. Please print your confirmation email to receive free parking on November 7th.**
Conservation Café programs provide a forum for dialogue about current environmental issues. Sponsors are Westchester County Parks, Friends of Westchester County Parks, Pace University, Grassroots Environmental Education, Teatown Lake Reservation, the Greenburgh Nature Center, Federated Conservationists of Westchester County, Mianus River Gorge and Westchester Land Trust.
