Citizen Science Toolkit

The Citizen Science Toolkit consists of multiple components to help you plan your citizen science project. This Toolkit was developed for Forest Service employees but is shared here with our partners and the public because its content could be useful to a broader audience. This is a work in progress—to provide comments or feedback, please send an email to SM.FS.FSCCS@USDA.GOV.

*Forest Service employees - the Project Planning Guide shared here has all internal links removed. To access the internal version with more content, visit the Forest Service Crowdsourcing and Citizen Science Community of Practice SharePoint page or send an email to SM.FS.FSCCS@USDA.GOV.

        Project Planning Guide covers the fundamentals of setting up a citizen science project in the Forest Service*. It includes how to determine if citizen science is right for your project and relevant links to information, such as partnership or volunteer resources.

       Project Plan Template will walk you step-by-step through planning your project, including describing your goals, outlining your budget and team, and ensuring quality data. The Template references sections in the Guide that can provide helpful insights.

         Webinars are recordings of presentations by Forest Service colleagues and partners that are focused on beneficial themes and include case studies that discuss lessons learned, best practices, and innovative approaches to collaboration.

        Resources contains information including supporting policies for citizen science, legal considerations & ethics, guides & technical reports, and citizen science protocols.