AVEO citizen science projects are part of a community-based environmental research and monitoring network that includes individuals, citizen groups, local non-profit organizations, schools, universities, municipalities, state-level non-profit organizations, and even state and federal agencies.

Keene State College (KSC). AVEO is currently hosted in the Keene State College Science Center, where we create active links between the College and the community, provide service learning opportunities for KSC students, and integrate citizen science into undergraduate science courses.

Antioch University New England (ANE). Graduate students from Antioch University New England have taken a lead in coordinating several of AVEO’s citizen science projects, and a number of ANE faculty members serve as advisors or direct partners in AVEO research initiatives. Dr. Jon Atwood, Director of the ANE Conservation Biology program, co-leads AVEO’s bird banding project; noted forest ecologist and ANE core faculty member Tom Wessels collaborates on our work in Pisgah State Park; and Dr. Meade Cadot, Director of the Harris Center for Conservation Education and associate faculty at ANE, advises our mammal inventory and monitoring efforts.

Franklin Pierce University (FPU). Dr. Catherine Koning, FPU Associate Professor of Environmental Science, is actively engaged in the Pisgah State Park scientific collaborative.

The Nature Conservancy (TNC). In partnership with TNC, AVEO trained and coordinated over 80 volunteer “Culvert Operators,” who surveyed more than 700 culverts and bridges throughout southwest New Hampshire in 2006 to determine where fish and aquatic wildlife passage is most impacted by road structures. TNC is using these data to prioritize sites for aquatic connectivity restoration throughout the Ashuelot watershed.

New Hampshire Audubon. In partnership with New Hampshire Audubon, AVEO coordinates volunteer monitoring of the state-threatened Common Nighthawk in Keene, and has placed seven experimental gravel “nest patches” on flat rooftops throughout the city to restore nighthawk nesting habitat.

The Monadnock Conservancy. AVEO is partnering with The Monadnock Conservancy and Keene State College Continuing Education to develop a citizen scientist certification program, in which citizen scientists will be trained and verified as reliable sources of ecological data for use in informing local and regional conservation easement design.

New Hampshire Department of Resources and Economic Development, Division of Forests and Lands. As part of the Pisgah State Park Scientific Collaborative, a groundbreaking collaboration between AVEO, Antioch University New England, Keene State College, Franklin Pierce College, and the New Hampshire Division of Forests and Lands, AVEO is planning the citizen science component of a comprehensive ecological inventory of the largest state park in southern New Hampshire, to begin in summer 2008.

Moosewood Ecological Services. This ecological consulting firm is owned and operated by Jeff Littleton, a respected applied ecologist and natural resource inventory specialist. Jeff is working closely with AVEO to develop a volunteer mammal monitoring plan for the Ashuelot watershed and the ecological inventory methodology for Pisgah State Park, and he teaches several of our Field Studies Program courses.

Other important partners include Friends of Open Space in Keene, the Ashuelot River Local Advisory Committee, Friends of Pisgah State Park, the University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension, the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services (DES) Watershed Management Bureau, the New Hampshire Department of Fish and Game, and, of course, our dedicated volunteers.