Monitoring the health of our terrestrial and aquatic environments can be a vast undertaking. For years we have been engaging the community that live near these environments to help champion these efforts. Utilizing non-professionals in large-reaching scientific studies is called citizen science . Seneca Park Zoo has a number of programs that are citizen science-based, which are very hands-on and try to promote stewardship of our area.

Photographer and environmentalist David Liittschwager has been documenting the biodiversity of ecosystems around the globe for more than a decade. Using a one cubic foot frame set into nature, he records everything that moves in and out of the cube within the equivalent of a 24 hour period, and creates a stunningly beautiful portrait of the rich biodiversity of one tiny piece of the world, whether in the rain-forest in Costa Rica, in a treetop in Capetown, in the coral reef, in Central Park, and now, in the Genesee River. Liittschwaager is the author of A World in One Cubic Foot: Portraits of Biodiversity and numerous other books of photography of endangered plants and animals. His work has been featured by National Geographic.

The Seneca Park Zoo-led the replication of One Cubic Foot in the basin of the Genesee River – to assess and spotlight the health of the river – provides a portrait of the biodiversity in its ecosystem. Once declared one of the United States’ most polluted rivers, the Genesee River is being brought back to life through the efforts of many, allowing the reintroduction of North American river otters and lake sturgeon. By providing invaluable scientific information and baseline data regarding the plant and animal species now living the in the Genesee, One Cubic Foot heightens awareness of water quality and other environmental issues in the river.