Develop a Repeat Photography Program to engage visitors and document landscape changes

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Annual visitation to Yellowstone National Park has spiked in recent years and the park has gathered data on impacts that are occurring to park facilities, resources, and the visitor experience. The proposed project will support the development and implementation of a repeat photography program that will engage visitors in documenting landscape changes at the park through citizen science, as well as inform park managers about impacts on park resources due to visitor use patterns and behaviors. This project will also help develop tools to interpret landscape change, as well as engage visitors in the process of data collection via citizen participation. The project will incorporate data collected in 2017 for a visitor use and resource monitoring study (coordinated with Recipient on a separate CESU agreement), as well as additional data collected in 2018 by park staff at several focal areas. Phase II of this project will develop outreach programs for schools (elementary, high school, and college curricula) to engage students in the value of repeat photography datasets and the benefits of monitoring landscape changes for park management and protection.

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