We ensure the availability of critical field data that accelerates conservation and climate solutions.

We achieve our mission by mobilizing and training outdoor enthusiasts and local communities to collect high-quality scientific data that are difficult to access, require too large a scale, or are too costly to obtain with traditional methods.

OUR FOCUS AREAS

Adventure Scientists focuses on four impact areas aligned with our mission and strengths. Each impact area interacts with the others, building momentum for effective coalition-building and action. By focusing on forests, biodiversity, climate, and freshwater, we accelerate our partners’ ambitious conservation efforts and help shape a world that sustains us all.

In the News

Listen to our recent mention on NPR’s Science Friday, in a segment that dives into the results of a gut microbes survey released by the Broad Institute (Harvard and MIT collaboration) on February 29, 2024. In 2016, Adventure Scientists volunteers collected animal scat from around the world which contributed to the data utilized in this study and its subsequent findings. Read the full article from the Broad Institute here.

What our partners have to say:

“We now have a bigger team to explore and discover everything better, working with Adventure Scientists.”

Yadi Wang, University of Arizona

“In every project and in nearly every way, Adventure Scientists has exceeded my expectations. Their ability to train and manage volunteers is impressive. I’m not sure I’ve seen an organization that can so capably coordinate small armies across such diverse environments and across such huge geographic spans.” 

Rich Cronn, US Forest Service

“Adventures Scientists connects us as a coral colony to collaborate and further build our coral reef conservation network.”

Dr. Alma Paola Rodríguez Troncoso, University of Guadalajara

“These wilderness adventurers supplied us with good, well-documented data … that allowed us to redraw the distribution map and added new evidence to an important hypothesis about how ice worms disperse.”

Roman Dial, Alaska Pacific University

“I will certainly be promoting you guys to every scientist I know. Not only do you help collect extensive data for research projects, but you get the public involved, and that in my mind is the most important impact to make. My science means nothing if it never reaches the public, and y’all are helping me achieve that!”

Krya LoPiccolo, Schatz Center for Tree Molecular Genetics

“By partnering with Adventure Scientists and engaging the outdoor community I have access to previously unobtainable data, which has propelled my research in plastic pollution to the forefront of the field.”

Abby Barrows, College of the Atlantic

“Adventure Scientists’ ability to seamlessly manage diverse volunteers and collect quality data in a challenging environment allowed me to focus on management implications. I highly recommend working with them.”

Kyran Kunkel, American Prairie Reserve

“Half of my study I owe to the samples I got from [Adventure Scientists], and all the samples are vouchers now in the herbarium, so other people can use them. It’s quite a huge resource now.”

loana Onut Brännström, Uppsala University

“[Adventure Scientists] was crucial in conducting the Olympic National Forest’s winter marten surveys, and this season’s work would not have been such a success without their efforts.”

Betsy Howell, U. S. Forest Service

“Adventure Scienitsts is a great model for getting the public outdoors and involved in science and the collection of information to improve the quality of the environment for current and future generations. The enthusiasm and passion of the AS staff is infectious.”

Scott Miller, Bureau of Land Management

“We have a tool now to reach many extreme environments in a relatively short amount of time.”

Dragos Zaharescu, University of Arizona, Biosphere 2

“The crew had great attitudes and worked well with our staff. I look forward to working with such enthusiastic and willing learners in the coming field season.”

Matthew McCollister, U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service

“Adventure Scientists’ efforts provided us access to remote sampling sites that we would never have reached otherwise. The volunteers were careful to follow our protocols, making the data highly trustworthy.”

Michael Gilmore, Harvard Medical School

“[Adventure Scientists’] ability to reach a wide audience by connecting with elite athletes provides an exceptional service to scientists.”

Natalie Kehrwald, U. S. Geological Survey

“[Adventure Scientists] provided benefits to APR not only through their collection of data but also through their photos, videos, stories, and interactions with the local communities.”

Betty Holder, American Prairie Reserve

“Working with Adventure Scientists has saved numerous person-hours, which eventually translates to quite a bit of cost savings in addition to time savings.”

Liza Holeski, Northern Arizona University

“The Adventure Scientists crew was a great help with our intensive field research evaluating the efficacy of an experimental vaccine to protect prairie dogs from plague.”

Randy Matchett, U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service

The Big Office

Wondering how you can give back to the forests, rivers, and wildlife you enjoy while recreating outdoors? Check out the latest film from Outdoor Research, The Big Office, featuring the conservation nonprofit Adventure Scientists and its founder and executive director, Gregg Treinish.