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Abstract
Due to increasing urbanization, wetlands and streams within city limits are being altered, filled in, and degraded. The habitat that remains is critical for providing urban areas with ecosystem services and maintaining biodiversity, yet is often insufficiently monitored by environmental agencies due to a lack of resources. To help fill this void, the Urban-Rural Biomonitoring and Assessment Network (URBAN) was developed as a citizen science education and outreach program for Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Through this program, volunteers gain insight into the dynamics of biological systems, learn how to identify species, and may experience growth personally in terms of environmental stewardship or even career path decisions. The implementation and development of URBAN followed a nine-step model developed by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Here, we offer an overview of URBAN's development, successes, and challenges by utilizing this citizen science model as a guideline.
Acknowledgements
We gratefully acknowledge the significant contributions of the RBC Blue Water Fund for making this program possible and the continued support from the Faculty of Science at McMaster University over the years. Our collaborators are integral to the success of the program and they include the Royal Botanical Gardens, Bay Area Restoration Council, Hamilton Conservation Authority, Halton Region Conservation Authority, Grand River Conservation Authority, City of Hamilton, Marsh Monitoring Program, Ontario Benthos Biomonitoring Network, and the Hamilton Naturalists' Club. We are most grateful to our dedicated and enthusiastic volunteers that are always ready to get their feet wet and to the high school students and teachers at Nelson, Pearson, Bishop Ryan, Cardinal Newman, and Westmount. Thank you to G. Fraser, Y. Yee, and all of the members of the Chow-Fraser lab for your support.