Stakeholder Perspectives on the Roles of Science and Citizen Science in Chesapeake Bay Environmental Management

An extensive ecosystem restoration effort for Chesapeake Bay, launched in 1983, has more recently (2015) initiated a program to integrate volunteer monitoring into the overall monitoring program. We sought to understand Chesapeake Bay environmental stakeholders' perspectives about citizen science. Specifically, we explored stakeholders' perspectives on (a) the roles of both science and citizen science in Bay management, and (b) the level of influence that various stakeholder groups currently and ideally should have in Bay decision-making processes. We employed a watershed-wide survey of over 350 Chesapeake Bay environmental stakeholders, including managers, scientists, educators, waterkeepers, and citizen scientists. Survey respondents felt that they should have more influence in environmental management decisions, but the degree of desired influence varied among stakeholder groups. Stakeholders broadly agreed that professional scientists should influence public policy, and that citizen scientists should influence policy to a lesser degree. Chesapeake environmental stakeholders had mixed perspectives on the utility of citizen science for Chesapeake environmental research and management, despite the clear potential that citizen science has in the Chesapeake Bay area. But it was recognized that citizen scientists can play an important role in protecting Chesapeake Bay, in that they can serve as advocates for change, help fill data gaps, and engage more community members. We provide evidence in support of expanded stakeholder engagement in Chesapeake Bay environmental research and decision-making. Citizen science appears to be a promising new frontier that could help Chesapeake science and management develop more inclusive decision-making processes.