Conservation Data Lab Year End Report, 2023

Achievements and future outlook

Randy Swaty and Rachel Meier

2024-01-03

Introduction to the Conservation Data Lab

The Conservation Data Lab (CDL) is a group of students and young professionals who are learning technical skills, practicing through conservation projects and building an amazing community. The CDL is co-lead by Randy Swaty, ecologist with The Nature Conservancy’s (TNC) LANDFIRE team, and Rachel Meier, senior associate with Lotus Engineering and Sustainability. Randy does some CDL work as part of his position with TNC; some of the work is volunteer. Rachel’s time is purely volunteer. Most projects are powered by LANDFIRE products and often serve TNC ‘clients’, though this is not always the case.

Achievements 2023

Members of the CDL were super productive, often contributing major efforts on top of school, jobs and other life events. We currently have 10 active members; 5 members moved to ‘alumni’ status.

This year found us taking on larger challenges than in the past, with many projects ‘in-progress’.

Major projects included:

Map of Black, Indigenous, People of Color for 2020/2021 by Izzy Nykamp. Map of Black, Indigenous, People of Color for 2020/2021 by Izzy Nykamp.