Are you a hiker, backpacker or sea kayaker? Adventure Scientists and the World Resources Institute need volunteers to collect bigleaf maple samples such as leaves, seeds, or tree cores from select sites in California, Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia this spring and summer.
These samples will be used by DNA4 Technologies and New Mexico State University to develop genetic reference databases for different species to help fighting illegal timber trade. The project starts with the bigleaf maple that grows along the Pacific coast of the United States and Canada, then expand to other species around the world.
“Illegal logging destroys forests, disrupts ecological processes, increases CO2 in the atmosphere, and provides revenue for other illicit activities” explains Gregg Treinish, founder of Adventure Scientists, in the related article on National Geographic Blog. Check out the article here.
