Citizen Science: Exploring the Potential of Natural Resource Monitoring Programs to Influence Environmental Attitudes and Behaviors

Citizen science programs monitoring ecosystems and natural resources are promoted for their potential to foster environmental awareness and stewardship. We surveyed volunteers in natural resource monitoring programs to determine whether they perceived changes in their environmental attitudes and decision-making. The majority of participants perceived changes in their attitude toward the resource being monitored, but not in their decision-making toward the resource they monitored or toward the environment more broadly. While the resources volunteers monitored in this study were diverse, program volunteers themselves were not. Participants were largely white, older, affluent, well-educated, held strong preexisting environmental attitudes, and were involved in other conservation, research, or management efforts. While engaging this narrow range of self-selected volunteers has the potential to reinforce existing pro-environmental attitudes through strengthening social networks, citizen science programs can increase their potential to promote attitude and behavioral change by making a concerted effort to engage a more diverse "citizenry."