Community Science in Seattle

What is community science?

Community science is a way for volunteers to participate in the collection of scientific data. The data collected are often used for large-scale projects, where it would be impossible for professional scientists to collect all the necessary information. Additionally, it allows researchers to analyze data from a larger geographic range than they would be able to on their own. Community science projects range from testing water quality, surveying outdoor spaces for wildlife, monitoring beach debris, and beyond.

There are so many reasons to participate in a community science project: you can help to inform large-scale scientific investigations, it allows you to learn something new, it can often be a great opportunity to get outside, doing something you may not normally do, plus, science is cool! No matter your reason for engaging with a community science project, you’ll have fun doing it. 

find a community science project 

Plants

• Garlic Mustard Monitor

• Sword Fern Monitor

• Timber Tracking 

• UW Rare Plant Monitor 

• UW botanic garden Volunteer 

• UW Seed Vault Volunteer 

• Washington Invasive Species Council Monitor 

Wildlife

• Bird Nest Monitor with NestWatch

• Butterfly Monitor

• COASST Beached Birds Survey

• Conservation NW Wildlife Survey

• Harbor Porpoise and other Cetaceans Monitoring 

• Northwest Pollinators Monitoring Program

• Project Squirrel Monitor 

• Seattle Audubon Bird Surveys 

• Seattle Aquarium Citizen Science

• Western Gray Squirrel Project

• Woodland Park Zoo Amphibian Monitoring

• Woodland Park Zoo Otter Spotter Program

• Woodland Park Zoo City Nature Challenge 

Water and Land

• Beach Watchers

• Bellevue Stream Team

• City Nature Challenge

• COASST Marine Debris Survey

• Duwamish Floating Wetland Research Project 

• EarthEcho Water Challenge 

• iNaturalist

• KCD Stream Steward 

• King County Lake Stewardship Monitoring Program

• Lake Forest Park Streamkeepers

• Precipitation Monitor 

• Puget Soundkeeper Water Quality Monitoring

• Stillwaters Environmental Center Water Quality Monitoring 

• Wildflower Surveys with Meadowatch

Opportunities for Children

• Citizen Science in Seattle for Children 

• PBS Database of Citizen Science for Kids

UW Seed Vault Citizen Science in Action

Community Science with the Seattle Aquarium, photo courtesy of the Seattle Aquarium 

Salamander egg mass found during amphibian monitoring with the Woodland Park Zoo

Are we missing a community science opportunity? Please email the information to info@greenseattle.org and we’ll add it to the list!