Gaia GPS
  • 7-Day Free Trial Gaia GPS Premium
  • Out and Back Podcast
    • Adventures

      How to Avoid Another Deadly Avalanche Season

      January 21, 2022

      Gaia GPS

      The Best Advice We Received in 2021

      December 26, 2021

      Gaia GPS

      Avalanche Safety with Snow Science Expert Bruce Tremper

      November 30, 2021

      Gaia GPS

      Everything You Need to Know About Satellite Communicators

      November 10, 2021

      Gaia GPS

      Planning a Thru-Hike Next Year? Here’s What You…

      October 21, 2021

      Gaia GPS

      A Definitive Guide to the Best Camp Coffee

      September 30, 2021

      Gaia GPS

      Owls and UFOs with Ultralight Expert Mike Clelland

      September 9, 2021

  • Offroad Podcast
    • Gaia GPS

      Monique Song: How a City Girl Became the…

      April 7, 2022

      Gaia GPS

      TrailRecon Explains How to Become an Overlander Overnight

      March 9, 2022

      Adventures

      How to Stay Married on a Long-Distance Adventure

      February 9, 2022

      Adventures

      How to Go From ‘Desk to Glory’ in…

      January 12, 2022

      Gaia GPS

      The Best Advice We Received in 2021

      December 26, 2021

      Gaia GPS

      Gaia GPS’s Best New Overlanding Maps and Features…

      December 23, 2021

      Gaia GPS

      Inside the Never-Ending Road Trip with Dan Grec

      November 20, 2021

  • Adventures
    • User Stories
  • Activities
    • Backcountry Skiing
    • Boating
    • Emergency Response
    • Fishing
    • Offroading
  • New Features
    • Gaia GPS

      Meet Map Packs: A Totally New Way to…

      May 9, 2022

      Gaia GPS

      Top 10 Ways to Use Waypoints

      April 14, 2022

      Gaia GPS

      Discover & Reserve Campsites Right From Gaia GPS

      February 22, 2022

      Gaia GPS

      Navigate from the Dashboard with Improved Android Auto

      February 4, 2022

      Gaia GPS

      Trailforks Mountain Bike Trails now in Gaia GPS

      January 13, 2022

      Android

      Gaia GPS Year in Review: Best New Maps…

      December 28, 2021

      Gaia GPS

      Gaia GPS’s Best New Overlanding Maps and Features…

      December 23, 2021

  • New Maps
    • Gaia GPS

      Gaia Overland: One Map to Rule Them All

      May 24, 2022

      Featured

      Find Phone Signal With Cell Phone Coverage Maps

      May 2, 2022

      Adventures

      Using Gaia GPS to Find Free Camping in…

      March 9, 2022

      Gaia GPS

      Discover Snowmobile Trails Across the Globe

      February 9, 2022

      Gaia GPS

      Get Worldwide Ski Resort Reports in Gaia GPS

      January 25, 2022

      Gaia GPS

      Trailforks Mountain Bike Trails now in Gaia GPS

      January 13, 2022

      Android

      Gaia GPS Year in Review: Best New Maps…

      December 28, 2021

  • Home
Gaia GPS
  • 7-Day Free Trial Gaia GPS Premium
  • Out and Back Podcast
    • Adventures

      How to Avoid Another Deadly Avalanche Season

      January 21, 2022

      Gaia GPS

      The Best Advice We Received in 2021

      December 26, 2021

      Gaia GPS

      Avalanche Safety with Snow Science Expert Bruce Tremper

      November 30, 2021

      Gaia GPS

      Everything You Need to Know About Satellite Communicators

      November 10, 2021

      Gaia GPS

      Planning a Thru-Hike Next Year? Here’s What You…

      October 21, 2021

      Gaia GPS

      A Definitive Guide to the Best Camp Coffee

      September 30, 2021

      Gaia GPS

      Owls and UFOs with Ultralight Expert Mike Clelland

      September 9, 2021

  • Offroad Podcast
    • Gaia GPS

      Monique Song: How a City Girl Became the…

      April 7, 2022

      Gaia GPS

      TrailRecon Explains How to Become an Overlander Overnight

      March 9, 2022

      Adventures

      How to Stay Married on a Long-Distance Adventure

      February 9, 2022

      Adventures

      How to Go From ‘Desk to Glory’ in…

      January 12, 2022

      Gaia GPS

      The Best Advice We Received in 2021

      December 26, 2021

      Gaia GPS

      Gaia GPS’s Best New Overlanding Maps and Features…

      December 23, 2021

      Gaia GPS

      Inside the Never-Ending Road Trip with Dan Grec

      November 20, 2021

  • Adventures
    • User Stories
  • Activities
    • Backcountry Skiing
    • Boating
    • Emergency Response
    • Fishing
    • Offroading
  • New Features
    • Gaia GPS

      Meet Map Packs: A Totally New Way to…

      May 9, 2022

      Gaia GPS

      Top 10 Ways to Use Waypoints

      April 14, 2022

      Gaia GPS

      Discover & Reserve Campsites Right From Gaia GPS

      February 22, 2022

      Gaia GPS

      Navigate from the Dashboard with Improved Android Auto

      February 4, 2022

      Gaia GPS

      Trailforks Mountain Bike Trails now in Gaia GPS

      January 13, 2022

      Android

      Gaia GPS Year in Review: Best New Maps…

      December 28, 2021

      Gaia GPS

      Gaia GPS’s Best New Overlanding Maps and Features…

      December 23, 2021

  • New Maps
    • Gaia GPS

      Gaia Overland: One Map to Rule Them All

      May 24, 2022

      Featured

      Find Phone Signal With Cell Phone Coverage Maps

      May 2, 2022

      Adventures

      Using Gaia GPS to Find Free Camping in…

      March 9, 2022

      Gaia GPS

      Discover Snowmobile Trails Across the Globe

      February 9, 2022

      Gaia GPS

      Get Worldwide Ski Resort Reports in Gaia GPS

      January 25, 2022

      Gaia GPS

      Trailforks Mountain Bike Trails now in Gaia GPS

      January 13, 2022

      Android

      Gaia GPS Year in Review: Best New Maps…

      December 28, 2021

  • Home

How Scientists are Saving Trees with Gaia GPS (And How You Can, Too)

by Corey Buhay July 29, 2019
by Corey Buhay July 29, 2019

How hard is it to steal a tree? According to a one study, it’s not as difficult as you might think. The study, conducted by the United Nations Environmental Program and INTERPOL in 2012, found that 30 percent of finished wood products contain timber illegally poached from protected zones. That includes species like western redcedar, Alaskan yellow-cedar, coast redwood, and bigleaf maple.

The good news: Adventure Scientists is using Gaia GPS to build geo-referenced databases authorities can use to trace lumber and track down the criminals. And if you’re an expert on getting deep into the backcountry, they need your help.

Identifying a broadleaf maple for last year’s edition of the timber project. Photo courtesy of Damon Tighe

About Adventure Scientists

Adventure Scientists, a nonprofit based in Bozeman, Montana, draws on the resourcefulness and backcountry skills of outdoor adventurers to organize citizen science efforts across the world. It’s not just a feel-good volunteer activity, either—Adventure Scientists volunteers provide high-quality data. That data influences cutting-edge studies and real-world change.

Past projects have included freshwater and saltwater microplastics surveys (which influenced the European Union’s recent landmark ban of single-use plastics), wolverine and lynx population tracking, and antibiotic resistance studies. For many of these projects, volunteers use Gaia GPS to navigate in the wilderness. They also use the app to leave annotated waypoints so scientists can track exactly where the samples came from.

Adventure Scientists’ Michelle Toshack demonstrates how to use a tree corer to take a sample from a western redcedar.

Why Conservation Needs Citizen Science

Conservation biology requires a lot of legwork. Because it takes hundreds of data points for a study to be thorough and conclusive, data collection can take a long time. There simply aren’t enough scientists to go around. That means research progresses slowly, all while environmental problems worsen and populations of threatened species dwindle.

Fortunately, a lot of the work that needs to be done involves trekking out into the field, accessing remote fields and forests, spending time in isolated landscapes far from civilization—all things the outdoor recreation community is already doing. Adventure Scientists leverages that community to turn weekend warriors into the conservation army that biologists have always dreamed of. In this way, citizen science speeds up the pace of scientific discovery.

Adventure Scientists volunteers get a Gaia GPS Membership, which they use to geolocate tree samples.

Saving Trees with Gaia GPS

Adventure Scientists’ Timber Tracking Project, now entering its second year, aims to collect thousands of genetic and chemical samples from important tree species across the country. Volunteers are trained to identify the species involved in the study. When they find one, they take samples of the leaves, cones, wood, or sprouts and record a Gaia GPS waypoint. That waypoint can easily be shared with other volunteers or exported to the project file. Then, each tree sample is analyzed, and added to the appropriate genetic or chemical database.

Ultimately, forestry officials will be able to test wood from lumber shipments of bigleaf maple, western redcedar, or Alaska yellow-cedar, and compare those samples to the database. If the timber’s genetic or chemical makeup matches that of a sample collected in a protected area, officials will know it was illegally harvested.

For coast redwoods, Save the Redwoods League will compare the genes of each tree sample with characteristics of the site where the sample was taken. The study should help scientists understand the function of genetic variation within the species. That understanding will help guide future conservation and restoration efforts.

You can read more details about last year’s successes with bigleaf maple here, and more about how to sign up to help with this year’s project here.

adventure scientistsconservationGaia GPS
1
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Corey Buhay

previous post
New! Oregon Pacific Crest Trail Maps by NatGeo
next post
New! Topo Maps for Australia

You may also like

Gaia Overland: One Map to Rule Them All

May 24, 2022

Meet Map Packs: A Totally New Way to...

May 9, 2022

Fastpacking 101: What You Need for This Running-Backpacking...

May 5, 2022

Natural Navigation Clues: How to Find Your Way...

May 4, 2022

Find Phone Signal With Cell Phone Coverage Maps

May 2, 2022

Top 10 Ways to Use Waypoints

April 14, 2022

Monique Song: How a City Girl Became the...

April 7, 2022

How to Air Down Off-Road Tires for Overlanding

March 23, 2022

How to Check for Snow on the Trail

March 10, 2022

TrailRecon Explains How to Become an Overlander Overnight

March 9, 2022

Keep in touch

Facebook Twitter Instagram Youtube

Popular Posts

  • 1

    How to Read Topographic Maps

    July 1, 2021
  • 2

    How to Save Phone Battery Life in the Backcountry

    March 25, 2021
  • 3

    How to Download an Entire State Map with Gaia Topo

    August 19, 2021
  • 4

    Unlock Adventure with Gaia GPS on Outside+

    September 30, 2021
  • 5

    Using Gaia GPS to Find Free Camping in National Forests

    March 9, 2022

Categories

  • Adventures
  • Android
  • App Comparisons
  • App Updates
  • Backcountry Skiing
  • Boating
  • Company News
  • Emergency Response
  • Featured
  • Fishing
  • Gaia GPS
  • Gaia GPS Offroad Podcast
  • GaiaCloud
  • Hikes
  • How-To
  • Hunting
  • iOS
  • New Features
  • New Maps
  • Newsletter
  • Offroading
  • Out and Back Podcast
  • User Profiles
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • RSS

@2022 - All Right Reserved. Gaia GPS


Back To Top