Field Notes: Conservation Impact Stories

In Roatán, Women Are Running the Reef Work

by Chrissy Very | September 8, 2026 | community, conservation, coral, women | 0 Comments

This photograph from Roatán shows a team loading dive tanks onto a boat before a reef monitoring run. Every person in the frame is a woman. It isn't a staged shot, and in Honduras, it isn't unusual anymore.Reef monitoring is not a one-time activity. It asks trained...

I Hiked Eight Miles Looking for Butternut Trees and Didn’t Find One. That’s Still Data.

by Chrissy Very | September 4, 2026 | adventurer spotlight, citizen science, hiking | 0 Comments

Guest writer and volunteer, Serena, shares her POV from the Cascade Brook and Mount Pemigewasset trails. Experience eight miles in the backwoods and a fast-moving storm on her search for threatened butternut trees. Watch Serena's experience here →Serena is an...

Shrubmarining: A Volunteer’s Journey Into Forests Before The Fires

by Chrissy Very | August 25, 2026 | adventurer spotlight, Audio, biodiversity, hiking, pacific northwest | 0 Comments

Matt Leitzinger spent a June Saturday placing acoustic recorders in trailless country in the Glacier Peak Wilderness. By late summer, fires were surrounding them.There’s a word for it, and Matt Leitzinger didn’t learn it until afterward. He had described the worst two...

The Race to Beat Wildfire Season

by Chrissy Very | August 19, 2026 | Audio, biodiversity, conservation, hiking, pacific northwest | 0 Comments

With wildfire season approaching, more than 100 wildlife recorders still need to be retrieved from remote forests across the Pacific Northwest. Every device recovered helps turn months of sound recordings into valuable conservation data.Somewhere in the backcountry of...

How One Family’s Hikes Became a Decade of Data & Two Science Degrees

by Chrissy Very | August 14, 2026 | adventurer spotlight, Video | 0 Comments

A chirp from a rockslide at Mount Rainier pulled the Soltys family into community science with Adventure Scientists. A decade later: published data, two science degrees, and a board seat.It started with a noise coming from a pile of rocks. A decade ago, John Soltys...

The Reality of Conservation Fieldwork: A Day in the Pacific Northwest Forest Biodiversity Project

by Chrissy Very | July 23, 2026 | Audio, biodiversity, citizen science, pacific northwest | 0 Comments

What happens when the data needed to protect forests, wildlife, and public lands lives in places most people will never see? When longtime Adventure Scientists volunteer Ryan read the project description, she laughed. "Bushwhacking into the woods after a 20-mile bike...