How the pandemic will set back environmental science

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Across the Western U.S., researchers are worried about unmonitored threatened species.

AS THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC takes tens of thousands of human lives, grinds society to a halt and tears a hole in its financial and social safety nets, the natural world continues to persevere around us. But with the majority of environment-focused scientists, natural resource managers and field technicians who study and maintain the natural world working remotely to flatten the curve, the flow of crucial data yielded by fieldwork has essentially been frozen.

“I think almost everybody that I know, in one way or another, is scrambling to reorganize their fieldwork,” says Department of Natural Resource’s Dr. Teodora Minkova, research and monitoring manager of the Olympic Experimental State Forest. “Inevitably, these projects have been affected.”

There’s concern from within agencies and universities that their ability to monitor the environment is limited, and they aren’t able to perform some important fieldwork.

“The biggest question eventually is when we get back to work, what did we miss or what things have changed? [But right now], it’s really hard to tell,” says Todd Mitchell, environmental director of the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community’s Department of Environmental Protection. “We don’t know at this point. And we’re just hoping for the best.”

The long-term repercussions of both may leave profound impacts on our understanding and conservation of Washington’s natural systems.


Much more: https://www.hcn.org/articles/covid19-the-great-data-freeze-how-the-pandemic-will-set-back-environmental-science