Address
Jones Street, New York, USA
Biodiversity
Biodiversity Monitoring and Conservation
Long-term tracking of birds, pollinators, and wildlife across every restoration site — the clearest proof a landscape is genuinely recovering.
Impact at a Glance
12
Monitoring Sites
85+
Species Tracked
40
Community Monitors
4
Years Running
Overview
Restoration only works if it actually brings ecosystems back to life — and the only way to know that is to keep watching, long after the trees are in the ground. This project runs long-term biodiversity monitoring across every major SSEAFA restoration site, tracking the return of birds, pollinators, and wildlife as the clearest evidence that a landscape is genuinely recovering, not just greening on a satellite image.
Our Approach
Forty community members have been trained as citizen-science monitors, conducting quarterly bird counts, pollinator surveys, and camera-trap checks across twelve sites using simple, standardized protocols designed to work without specialist equipment. Data feeds into a shared dataset that lets SSEAFA compare which restoration techniques are actually bringing wildlife back fastest — turning monitoring into a feedback loop that improves every future planting decision.
Impact So Far
Sites restored more than three years ago now show significantly higher bird and pollinator diversity than younger sites, and several locally rare species — including hornbills not recorded in the area for over a decade — have been confirmed returning to the oldest restoration plots.
Outcomes
- 12 sites under continuous long-term biodiversity monitoring
- 85+ species tracked including birds, pollinators, and mammals
- 40 community members trained as citizen-science monitors
- Locally rare hornbill sightings confirmed after a decade-long absence
Support This Project
Every restored hectare, every trained household, every seed bank in this journal is made possible by people and volunteers who believe in the work.
