Marine Debris Program Welcomes New Monitoring Coordinator
AUGUST 31, 2020 — On August 26, Hillary Burgess joined the Marine Debris Program (MDP) as the new Monitoring Coordinator for the Marine Debris Monitoring and Assessment Project (MDMAP).
The MDMAP is the MDP’s flagship citizen science initiative that engages partner organizations and volunteers across the nation in completing shoreline marine debris surveys. Each partner in the MDMAP network selects a nearby shoreline monitoring site that they return to monthly to conduct surveys and submit meaningful data to the MDMAP Database.
The MDMAP now includes over 400 sites in 20 states (Alaska, Alabama, California, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, Michigan, Mississippi, North Carolina, New Jersey, Ohio, Oregon, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, and Washington), as well as sites in Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Canada, Mexico, Malaysia, the Bahamas, the Federated States of Micronesia, Ecuador, Tonga, Palau, and Costa Rica.
Hillary Burgess previously served as the Science Coordinator for the Coastal Observation and Seabird Survey Team, a citizen science program that engages coastal community members in monitoring seabird mortality and marine debris along the west coast. She lives in Seattle with her husband Andrew and dog Noca, and her graduate studies at the University of Washington focused on citizen science and how home gardening practices relate to the abundance and diversity of pollinators.
For more information, please contact Hillary.Burgess@noaa.gov.