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University of Colorado Museum of Natural History program brings together high school students, university researchers, state and federal scientists to study Colorado's native crayfish

By: Lauren Mahoney

If you grew up near Colorado waterways, you might have flipped over rocks looking for crayfish. Despite being familiar to locals, crayfish are one of the least scientifically understood animals in Colorado. And these small freshwater crustaceans might hold important clues about biodiversity in our state.

This summer, the University of Colorado Museum of Natural History organized and hosted Camp Crayfish. The camp brought together high school students from Â鶹Ãâ·Ñ°æÏÂÔØScience Discovery’s STEM Research Experience Program with Â鶹Ãâ·Ñ°æÏÂÔØscientists, Colorado Parks and Wildlife, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Wildlife Research Center, and a visiting crayfish expert from George Washington University to investigate one of Colorado's least understood groups of animals.

Students became part of an active research project. They sampled crayfish in Boulder Creek, identified specimens in the Museum's collections, analyzed data, and worked alongside researchers trying to answer fundamental questions about Colorado's crayfish diversity. The high school students designed their own research projects related to the overarching crayfish theme and presented their findings on July 30th, 2026 at the Â鶹Ãâ·Ñ°æÏÂÔØScience Discovery STEM Research Expo.

"This is an active project because we're teaming up with scientists as they're doing their work," said Kelly Martin, Collections Manager of Invertebrates at the Â鶹Ãâ·Ñ°æÏÂÔØMuseum of Natural History. "This is all stemming from the project with Colorado Parks and Wildlife and the USDA-NWRC, because they're trying to sample for invasive crayfish in Colorado and our Museum has Colorado crayfish specimens from the past 120 years to investigate."

The Museum hostedÌý professionals and students from CPW, USDA-NWRC, CU, and a crayfish expert, postdoctoral fellow Dr. Brooke Grubb from George Washington University, for a week of workshops, specimen identification, field research, and collaboration.Ìý
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Solving a Scientific Mystery

Colorado's crayfish remain surprisingly mysterious. "The interesting part right now is we're in the process of building that database and figuring out exactly what we do have in Colorado," said Dr. Toni Piaggio, research scientist and Wildlife Genetics Project Leader at the USDA National Wildlife Research Center. "Historically it's not well studied... it's all kind of a mystery—which is science, right? Trying to figure that out, I think, is the coolest thing."

Her team uses environmental DNA (eDNA)—genetic material collected from water samples—to detect which crayfish species inhabit Colorado's waterways. "We can take water samples and use genetic tools to understand the different species that are in that water sample," Piaggio explained.

The work has already uncovered surprises. "We've identified some native species. And then we have some that are like, 'What are these?' And that's probably the most interesting question that we have—is figuring out what those are." Before this work it was believed that crayfish were not native to the Western Slope of Colorado but that was not well studied and these results may change that dogma.

The project has also documented invasive crayfish species that threaten native ecosystems. "We have identified two potential invasive species," Piaggio said. “Now we are working to confirm their presence with physical captures of those species."
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A Museum at the Center of Collaboration

The Museum of Natural History was the ideal hub and Colorado biodiversity resource to bring all these groups together to solve real-world scientific questions. "This research project is interdisciplinary. It’s using our collections and it’s in partnership with Colorado Parks and Wildlife and the USDA," Martin said.

Each partner contributes a different piece of the puzzle. "Colorado Parks and Wildlife is doing the field work. We are the repository for the specimens. USDA is doing the genetic sequencing," Martin explained.

And after realizing specimens requested by USDA researchers were too fragile to transport, the Museum became the meeting point. "They said, 'We need to see it in person.' The specimens are too fragile to ship, so the option was, okay, let's find ways to bring these folks to us."
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Learning Science by Doing Science

The two high school students attending Camp Crayfish's were actively engaged in this research. The students spent time inside the Museum's collections and then in the field uncovering crayfish.Ìý

During the camp, the visiting scientists also discussed their research, career paths, and the scientific questions driving the project before Dr. Brooke Grubb led students and professionals through a crayfish diversity andÌý identification workshop. "They're gonna be in the lab for 20 hours a week doing data collection," Martin said. "It's up to them what they want to ask. They'll have their own data set with results at the end."Ìý

Why Crayfish Matter

Crayfish play an outsized role in freshwater ecosystems. "Crayfish are considered ecosystem engineers as well as keystone species, meaning that their role in the environment is central to many environmental processes and good stream health," said Dr. Brooke Grubb.

Despite their ecological importance, they have not been the focus for scientific inquiry. "Crayfish have historically been understudied when we compare them to other freshwater groups," Grubb said. "We're at least 20 years behind in what we know about crayfish and many areas, like Colorado, have limited information about their local crayfishes."Ìý

That lack of knowledge has real conservation consequences. "Without understanding how a species lives in its environment... we may actually create more harm than good."

Crayfish expert Dr. Brooke Grubb led students and Museum of Natural History faculty in field work to uncover crayfish at Boulder Creek and identify their species.

Connecting Museum Collections to Active Science

Camp Crayfish also served as the foundation for Museum and Field Studies graduate student Jack Clark's thesis project, undertaken while part of theÌý, which explores how museum education can better connect visitors with active scientific research.

Clark develops educational kits that are used by primary schools across the state. These kits combine specimens from the Museum’s collections with scientific instruction. But Clark thinks these kits would be more engaging if they featured current science. "We want to make a kit that actually links active research with specimens. We have all these extra layers, like the field work component, what specimens look like alive, not just dead in a jar."

Helping visitors understand why museum collections matter is central to the project. "Why should I care at all about what is in the box sitting in front of me?" Clark asked. "This is to provide a larger context for why they're in there, where they've come from, what the project is."

By combining specimens with video interviews, field footage, and digital resources, the kits aim to show that Museum Collections can be gateways to new groundbreaking discoveries.



Inspiring the Next Generation

Camp Crayfish has helped local high school students experience scientific discovery themselves. Perhaps inspiring them onto future endeavors of their own.Ìý

One of Grubb's favorite moments came not in the laboratory, but in the creek. "One of my favorite activities that we've done this week is we took people out and let them catch their first crayfish," she said.

"There's always that joy, going back to your childhood of playing in the creek and flipping the rocks."

For Grubb, those moments are the foundation of ecological conservation."If you can get people connected back to nature, they develop stewardship. And that stewardship development can be done through citizen science and experiential outreach like Camp Crayfish."

By combining citizen science and interdisciplinary collaboration among management agencies and academic institutions, Camp Crayfish are leading to a better understanding of our local biodiversity and more informed decisions for management of wildlife species.

Local high school students uncovered crayfish at Boulder Creek and worked with Dr. Brooke Grubb to identify the species.