By: Aisling Force and Nina Hadley

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PC: Google stock imagery

​Spring is in the air and Adventure Scientists is hard at work planting new project ideas. Sometimes these ideas blow in with the wind – from our website, by word of mouth, or through a contact we’ve made. As the organization’s project development gardeners, let us walk you through the process of how to seed a new idea with Adventure Scientists that will take root and bloom.
Projects, like plants, need strong roots in order to grow. And to thrive in our garden, every project must:

  1. Address an environmental issue in which data has previously been a limiting factor for finding solutions,
  2. Have the potential to drive tangible conservation outcomes through data collection, and
  3. Have a clear need for our distinct soil – volunteers from the global outdoor adventure community, like climbers, whitewater kayakers, and skiers.
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Adventure Scientists volunteers

Like gardening, project development is a learning process. Every project at Adventure Scientists is like a well-tended plant, an investment in the potential for positive real-world impact. As the Project Development team, we spend significant time and resources to make sure that we’re pursuing the right ideas with committed and responsible partners. We harvest lessons from the projects that don’t flourish as well as the ones that sprout with ease and minimal effort.
 
Creative project partners that think BIG act as nutrients to our garden, allowing ideas to grow and spread throughout their world of possible influence. We partner with government agencies, non-profits, universities, individual researchers, and the private sector. Each new project planted has the potential to create substantial outcomes for a critical environmental issue, establishing a stable root system of ongoing conservation-oriented action.
The changing seasons prompt gardeners to ask questions, to be curious, and to think ahead. In the coming season, it may be how can we make a positive impact on climate change, water quality, or food security. In any season, Adventure Scientists’ project development gardeners tend an assortment of fruitful ideas. Projects are cultivated and primed for harvest, feeding the world with meaningful change. 

Let’s grow an idea together! 

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Aisling Force (left) is Adventure Scientists’ Project Development Coordinator. When she’s not working with potential partners on upcoming projects or keeping the office supplied with home-brewed kombucha, you can find her mountain biking, rafting, skiing, and hiking.
 
Nina Hadley (right) is Adventure Scientists’ Project Development Director and brings a wealth of partnerships garnered from a 13-year career at The Nature Conservancy. In her free time, she leads women’s trail running adventures around the world and also loves to rock climb, cook for friends and family, and explore the National Parks.