September 2010 Archives
I recently spent time in northern Michigan at the University of Michigan’s Biological Field Station. Founded in 1909 it is a very large field station with the capacity to house 200+ people. Situated next to a lake and surrounded by 10,000 acres of forest land managed by the field station, it is an impressive facility that sits at the interface between rural and wild Michigan. The facilities manager mentioned that wolves have taken up residence at the field station.
The reason for my visit was the annual meeting of the Organization of Biological Field Stations. There are approximately 300 field stations in North America and once a year we get together to talk about the range of issues facing field stations. With 90+ attendees ranging from Panama, Costa Rica, Mexico, Canada, and a host of field stations from across the US, it is a very diverse group. Discussions ranged from how to pursue sustainable and green infrastructures to scientific trends that will affect field stations.
I enjoy attending field station meetings because field stations are on the front lines of environmental change. Many of them have a long history of watching the environment and so often they are tuned into subtle changes in plants and animals that, while important, could easily be overlooked. Additionally, they are places where knowledge about the environment accumulates—the complexity and beauty of the world emerges as field stations weave together the insights of individual scientists.
Because field stations manage land they must confront a wide range of issues that highlight the challenges our society faces. For example, they deal with invasive organisms, shifting land use, and maintaining support within local communities as local communities change and put increasing demands on the landscape. Next year’s meetings will be hosted by Bodega Bay in California and will focus on land use. I am already looking forward to visiting another beautiful location and picking up lessons from other field stations about how RMBL can meet its challenges.
How should RMBL measure and track its impact on the larger world? Nonprofits are rightfully being pushed to understand and track their effectiveness. The public invests in RMBL in many different ways- as a nonprofit we receive tax breaks, individuals donate money to support our mission, and there is considerable taxpayer money spent at RMBL. Consequently it is important to understand the return on investment. Is a dollar spent at RMBL spent wisely? Would a dollar spent elsewhere have a greater impact?
Understanding the impact of science and education is not an easy proposition. The general rationale for such investments is that science and education drive economic growth. While economic growth sometimes gets a bad rap within the environmental community, ultimately we are talking about improving the quality of lives by doing better with less- a concept heartily embraced by the environmental community. Smarter workers are more productive. Innovations allow us to do new things or old things more efficiently.
In theory we know that investing in science and education is important. Practically, understanding how the relationship plays out is not easy. One study found that countries that spent more on education in 1900 experienced substantially more growth over the next 100 years. But is that cause and effect? Could growing countries simply afford to invest more in education? And if the investments did drive growth, that doesn’t mean that all investments on education were wisely made.
RMBL’s Board has formed an assessment committee that is working to better articulate and track the value of what we do. The challenge will be in translating research and education success into its value to the larger world. Understanding success in terms of research and education is hard enough, though relatively easy to quantify (e.g., through publication rates and the career paths of students). However, understanding how exciting a student about field biology, or understanding evolution, matters to the larger world is not an easy proposition. If you have ideas on how RMBL should track its impact, or if you simply want to share a success story, please do not hesitate to email me! Any help in tackling this difficult, but important question, would be appreciated!