Broken Arrow nature center trains citizen scientists to preserve firefly magic

Nostogic Oklahomans may reminisce about running through their backyards on hot summer evenings, cupping their hands to catch the flying, glowing insects twinkling in the air. State Impact's Beth Wallace reports a Nature Center in Broken Arrow is training citizen scientists to help preserve firefly magic. So when you see a flash, start counting. One, two, three, four, five, six, one, two. At the Ray Herald Nature Center in Broken Arrow, Supervisor Miranda Adams leads a small group of citizen scientists through the dense muggy forest. Tonight, they search for fireflies. So we're seeing two flashes in the flash pattern. Would you guys agree with that? Yes. Okay. And what color is the flash? Yellow, I would say. I would agree yellow. Yellow. Yeah. It's the first ever glow patrol. Participants count, identify, and document the fireflies at Ray Harrell, a certified firefly habitat. That data is sent to the firefly atlas. It's a collaborative of researchers who collect reports on threatened and data-deficient firefly species throughout North America to inform conservation efforts. Firefly enthusiast Alia DeVore spots a specimen. I'm just going to run into the woods. whoops the beetle into a large net, and brings it over to the group. With the firefly bagged, Adams takes photos and documents the evening's conditions, like the time it was caught, the wind activity and temperature. The common eastern firefly is the firefly that I was expecting to see. So that's our target species. So great job. Adam says the event's purpose is twofold. Collect data, but also spark the fire for citizen scientists to continue the work on their own and recruit more to the cause. You don't have to spend years in a university to be able to contribute real data to researchers. And in fact, it is much more efficient if we are able to crowdsource our researchers, get people. collecting data in their backyard, in their local parks. We're going to be able to cover a lot more terrain that way. So it's really right there in the name. It's you, the citizen, are the scientists. You're contributing data to the larger firefly research. While the firefly species caught tonight isn't endangered or threatened, Adams says it's still important to give researchers a snapshot in time count so future numbers can be measured against it. She says more development means more habitat loss, pesticide use, and light pollution. So the potential for future decline is high. Nobody wants to imagine childhood without summer fireflies. Like, what a tragedy it would be to lose that. As dusk turns to night back in the forest, dozens of blinking lights hover among the trees and underbrush. I think that's more than 50 fireflies. They're everywhere.

We even spot a mating pair. I want to say I saw at least two glows. before the male firefly landed. While we hike back to the Nature Center, data in hand, the participants reflect on the glimmering, phosphorescent evening. It's nice seeing fireflies. You don't really see a whole wilddom nowadays. Jeremy Corbyn Johnson is a biology student at Tulsa Community College who hopes to work in conservation. He says when he was a kid, he would look out and see fields of fireflies. You know, just kind of just staring at them, not really thinking about anything. I was kind of caught in their beauty. And as the place developed, I just stopped seeing them less and less and just stopped seeing less of wildlife. Now I have to go out to places where... It's kind of like protected. Adams says this year's survey was encouraging, but the work isn't done. In the off season, humans can help firefly populations by leaving leaf piles alone for larval development and planting pollinator gardens. And next summer, more citizen scientists can contribute to the body of knowledge about Oklahoma's luminous lightning bugs. For state impact, I'm Beth Wallace. State Impact is a collaboration of NPR member stations in Oklahoma. You can find and follow State Impact on Facebook, Instagram, and X at State Impact OK.