Charles T. Bargeron IV, director of the Center for Invasive Species and Ecosystem Health at UGA’s Tifton campus, was one of four recipients of this year’s Walter B. Hill Award. The award recognizes the significant contributions made to the quality of life in Georgia and beyond and is given annually by UGA’s Office of Public Service and Outreach.

Bargeron, who is also a senior public service associate in UGA’s Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, oversees the development and maintenance of a variety of apps and other technologies to track and disseminate information on invasive species, forest health, natural resources and agricultural management.

Invasive species are a threat to Georgia’s crops, forests and natural resources, and early detection is critical to prevent and eradicate them. The storage and reporting systems developed by Bargeron’s team have “been a paradigm shift in the data management that allows state and federal agencies to make more informed decisions to reduce the impacts of invasive species,” said Dale Greene, dean of the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources.

These systems include EDDMapS, a web and smartphone-based mapping system for documenting invasive species and pest distribution. With more than 7.5 million records, it is the most comprehensive source of invasive species and pest distribution data in North America. A spinoff of this product, Wild Spotter, allows citizen scientists to use a smartphone app to map invasive species in national forests. Another product developed by Bargeron’s team, The Georgia First Detectors Program, offered through the Georgia Master Gardener Program, trains volunteers to report invasive species through the EDDMapS app. Nearly 7,000 invasive species have been reported by 1,602 volunteers in Georgia since the program started.

These products also make use of the Bugwood Image Database System, which stores high-resolution photos and has a permanent archive of 300,000 photos that were viewed more than two million times last year.

“The many online and mapping resources and publications that Chuck and his team have developed are a tremendous help to those of us working with invasive species,” wrote Nancy Loewenstein, an extension specialist at Auburn University, in a recommendation for Bargeron. “Many of us have come to depend on these resources to effectively do our jobs.”

The Walter Barnard Hill Award for Distinguished Achievement in Public Service and Outreach is named in honor of Chancellor Walter Barnard Hill, who led UGA from 1899 to 1905. His desire for more university involvement in Georgia and his application of these goals and ideas helped pave the way for a modern public service-oriented university.