The 2024 EwA Conservation Digest Collection


The 2024 EwA Conservation Highlights (Released: 02/02/2025): An 8-page summary of our work this past year, a shortlist of our accomplishments, and a few favorite infographics.

Participatory Science at EwA (Live StoryMap): An interactive StoryMap about EwA’s program: its model, what the projects are (and their data), who EwA engages, and the program’s impact. The StoryMap is also an invitation to all to get engaged in environmentally-focused participatory science.

Advancing Habitat Conservation: The 2024 EwA Vernal Pool and Threatened Species Report (Released: Dec. 26th, 2023 / Sent annually to the Department of Conservation and Recreation): This year marks the sixth successful year of the EwA Vernal Pool Awareness & Protection Program. Despite a slight reduction in fieldwork in the Fells due to preparations for EwA’s next organizational phase, we achieved significant milestones, including confirming and reporting several new vernal pools to the Natural Heritage & Endangered Species Program (NHESP), bringing our total to 29 vernal pools confirmed since the program’s launch in 2019. We also carefully surveyed our arthropod-specific site at Horn Pond, which hosts populations of the orange sallow moth (Pyrrhia aurantiago), a species of special concern in Massachusetts, with findings submitted to NHESP and promptly approved. Looking ahead to 2025, we plan to expand our vernal pool documentation efforts to the Woburn area and further enhance public outreach. This progress is thanks to our dedicated community of herpetologists, participatory scientists, and the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR), whose research permit enables our work in the Middlesex Fells. Thank you for supporting the protection of these critical habitats!

2024 EwA Phenology Program Data Insights: A Milestone in Collaborative Science (Published: Jan 8th, 2025): The 2024 data summary for EwA’s Local Phenology Program, prepared by our partner, the USA National Phenology Network (USA-NPN), highlights the impressive dataset collected through Nature’s Notebook up to the end of 2023. Conducted in Middlesex County, this initiative has amassed over 512,354 phenophases across 25 sites, covering more than 140 species, thanks to our dedicated community of participatory scientists. The report focuses on statistical trends rather than narratives, with identified trends remaining preliminary as we approach the 10-year minimum needed for robust climate-related conclusions. While Pheno Lite data is not included, discussions with USA-NPN reaffirm its importance, as they plan to adopt a similar approach, validating our methodology and enabling future data integration. A heartfelt thank-you to USA-NPN and our incredible community—let’s continue advancing biodiversity science and conservation in 2025!

□ EwA’s Keeping the Middlesex Fells Whole project is a crucial conservation initiative dedicated to providing a comprehensive overview of human impacts on the Fells. Our objective is to strike a balance between its recreational and aesthetic value for humans while safeguarding the ecological needs of its diverse non-human residents.

For an overview of the project’s evolution and upcoming analysis and action plans, we invite you to explore the EwA Habitat Fragmentation StoryMap. This serves as a roadmap, guiding our efforts towards a more sustainable future for the Fells.

The Reality of Urban Forest (Released: March 16th, 2024) highlights EwA’s findings from year three of monitoring habitat fragmentation at the Middlesex Fells.

The Middlesex Fells Reservation Park Usage 2023 Stats Highlights (Released: Feb. 19th, 2024) stands as a pivotal component within the EwA’s Keeping the Middlesex Fells Whole project. This comprehensive statistical summary of the Park usage survey provides invaluable insights into the dynamic utilization patterns of Middlesex Fells.

Additionally, our EwA Fells Habitat Fragmentation Web Map Tutorial explains the mapping product developed under the project. It includes a statistical summary of our findings to date, focusing on the documentation of habitat fragmentation within this mixed-use urban forest.

Searching for Bugs: The EwA Live Entomology Recap & Data Dashboard. The report format is a dashboard that also links to a live presentation. The presentation tours some of our favorite observations of insects and spiders at our sites. We explain the why, what, and how of our arthropod-focused program. We show one of EwA’s most recent protocols and invite the audience to experience it. EwA conducts four distinct arthropod surveys, complementing national and academic protocols with our specialized methods designed to fill critical sampling gaps. This complementary approach captures intricate plant-arthropod relationships across local ecosystems that might otherwise go undetected and allows the exploration of ecological dynamics. Of course, we highlight the EwA data and its impact. The EwA Bug Dashboard illustrates the extent of our work and helps reveal the hidden world of urban insects through collaborative research. Our latest update aggregates 2024’s data, offering a unique look into local arthropod ecosystems. Dive into EwA’s comprehensive data stories, where participatory science meets rich ecological analysis! [Also see EwA past ‘bug’ reports: Exploring Climate’s Influence on Pollinator-Plant Dynamics (2023), The Little Things That Run the World (2021)]

EwA Biodiversity in Numbers: Explore the biodiversity observed by our community throughout the years. Also check our Biodiversity in a Year storyMapsthat tour of some of our favorite observations trhoughout the years, report important findings, and explain our biodiversity-focused program and who the participatory scientists behind the data are: 2023 | 2022 | 2021.


ℹ️ More about the reports…

While the EwA reports compile the results and data collected from a year’s worth of EwA fieldwork, they are not purely data-driven reports. In addition to reporting those results, they document EwA’s developmental and operational process. They summarize EwA’s field projects and general findings and explain EwA’s field methods and how to access our data for further analysis. The audience for these reports is varied and comprises our citizen scientists and volunteers, our partners and collaborators, the cities where our programs are located, and the various non-profit and governmental organizations we work with. [📊 Latest Reports]


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