Citizen science datasets are just incredibly powerful and long term. For the Christmas bird count and other ones, and eventually eBird as more data gets entered into the past, we're able to actually track longer and longer periods back through time to understand what's happening in the present and what's likely to be happening in the future. Having these datasets available for analysis by ornithologists but also for the use of legislators helps us understand what's happening to not only the birds but other stuff as well. We actually look at a lot of things habitat-wise, and birds, as I said, are wonderful indicators of the quality of the environment for everything. They're indicator species.
Having these amazingly powerful datasets helps us understand what's going on in the natural groups, but it also really helps in getting the citizen scientists themselves engaged with science, understanding what's going on and caring about the environment and conservation. It's a two-pronged thing, really. Yes, the data are very valuable for analysis, but it's also about developing another community of people who are willing to step up and help promote legislation to their own governments. That's around the hemisphere now.