About This Project

The Flagstaff Kestrel Project (FKP) seeks to understand effective strategies for integrating community participation into conservation.

After building a large, interconnected web of community partnerships to create a monitoring program for American kestrels (a quickly-declining species), FKP will use different methodologies to gain the most possible community involvement from diverse groups. We will review best practices, then survey participants and share our findings.

Ask the Scientists

What is the context of this research?

After working 4 seasons of field ornithology in habitats across the USA, I began to become curious about how to make birding appealing for diverse groups of people, how to encourage others to have eyes open to the natural world. Healthy habitats are critical for wildlife and for humans, so I wanted to know more about how to encourage others to become involved in this life-saving work of conservation.

FKP is a strategy for learning more about the critical intersection between the public and wildlife conservation. It is unique because it is not just a monitoring program for a threatened species, it is a place to grow and strengthen community. FKP will empower people, help kestrels, and deepen the ties between people and the natural world- while studying how to do so effectively.

What is the significance of this project?

Study of FKP's organizing strategies will contribute to our collective understanding of how to integrate community into conservation. In an era of changing climate and dwindling biodiversity, it is critical to know how to encourage people to value nature and work to protect it. Using FKP to determine best practices for involving community participants will be invaluable for other communities that wish to engage in conservation.

We will evaluate the different ways participants became involved in FKP to establish trends. We will consider FKP successful if it involves people from diverse backgrounds and of different ages, if there are monitoring teams of at least 2-4 people for each site, and if participants value nature more and/or are more likely to work in conservation after involvement.

What are the goals of the project?

The main goal of this project is to develop an understanding of best practices in organizing community to support conservation. We will do this by surveying participants before and after participation in FKP, interviewing participants after involvement, and tracking numbers of involvement through the duration of the work.

Other goals include creating a monitoring program for kestrels, interconnecting community, spreading ecological awareness, and providing opportunities in the outdoors to under-served populations. We will measure success using the methods described above.

FKP has a first-season goal of installing at least 25 nesting boxes, with 2-5 monitors per box, for a total goal of 50-125 volunteers, with hopes of reaching 200 more people through community events.