Tracking changes in key seabird populations over time helps NOAA assess the health of the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, identify issues, react nimbly, and inform management decisions.  Stellwagen staff members have not had the capacity to conduct these studies on their own. The sanctuary’s volunteer program allows NOAA to invite highly qualified individuals to join a pioneering systematized study of seabirds in the sanctuary. With NART sponsorship, the sanctuary brought on a dedicated intern to help with data entry, quality assurance, management, and analysis and purchased much-needed equipment and supplies. This built capacity for high level sanctuary research to inform management decisions—in particular, completing a comparison of Dave Wiley’s 1994-95 seabird survey with our seabird steward standardized surveys. These results will be shared in the sanctuary’s Condition Report, which provides a periodic summary of resources, pressures, trends, and management responses.