COASST Alaska Beached Bird Data, May 2006-Aug 2007, Parrish, JK

COASST Alaska Beached Bird Data include beached bird data from the Coastal Observation and Seabird Survey Team (COASST).
COASST is a citizen science program in coastal Alaska, Washington, Oregon and California that trains people living in coastal communities
to gather highly rigorous and independently verifiable data on beach-cast birds, human use of beaches, and beach oiling. Started in 1998,
COASST now supports more than 400 volunteers monitoring over 250 coastal sites. In this pilot project, COASST was extended to six communities
in Alaska (St. Paul, St. George, Cold Bay, Seward, Homer, Sitka), with the goals of determining whether COASST – and rigorous citizen science
– could be maintained in Alaskan communities, whether data could be collected year round, and what the initial patterns in the data were as
compared to other data sources. Between May 2006 and August 2007, COASST conducted 15 training sessions, established relationships with 14
partner organizations, and recruited 55 participants to survey 29 year-round and 22 seasonal beaches. Over this time, 507 surveys were conducted,
including data on 269 beached birds.