Efficacy of Utilizing Volunteers to Conduct Rare Plant Monitoring in Acadia National Park

Weber, Jill; Rooney, Sally

Executive Summary: 'The Garden Club of America's Partners for Plants (PFP) program supplies volunteers to work on plant conservation projects throughout the US. In early 2003, PFP offered to send a team of volunteers to assist with a resource management project at Acadia National Park (ACAD). Monitoring plans for many of ACAD's rare plant species had been developed in 2002 (Greene et al., 2002). The plans were designed so that minimally trained personnel could carry out monitoring of rare plant populations. The primary purposes of this work were to: 1) initiate implementation of rare plant monitoring plans, 2) test the efficacy of using volunteers and/or minimally trained staff to conduct rare plant monitoring, and 3) test the efficacy of using volunteers to control selected exotic plant species. Volunteers can be successfully utilized to assist ACAD toward accomplishing its rare plant monitoring and invasive plant control goals. They represent an asset both in tasks accomplished and in the degree of investment they feel in the Park and its mission. Volunteers engaged in the 2003 efforts continued to contribute data even after the PFP project ended. Some investment by ACAD in staff time will always be necessary to plan and supervise volunteer projects and to process data collection relevant to those projects. However, the results of this project suggest that use of volunteers for rare plant monitoring and invasive plant control at ACAD is efficacious.' /STUDY LOCATIONS:/ /ACADIA NATIONAL PARK/