TONIGHT: Tuesday, March 27, Interactive Program: iNaturalist: Citizen Science and You

[Pam Piombino]

Boulder County Audubon Monthly Program

Tuesday, March 27, 7:15 p.m., Universalist-Unitarian Church, 5001 Pennsylvania Avenue, Boulder

 

"iNaturalist.org":  An Interactive Presentation About An Outstanding, World-Wide, Citizen Science Project

 

Co-Presentation by Melanie Hill (Project WILD) and Dave Sutherland, (City of Boulder, Outreach and Education Coordinator)

 

First, and before you attend, please download the iNaturalist app on your smart phones.  Then, come and learn how to use it well to start downloading your observations.  Or, bring your notebook or laptop on which you have connectivity.  You will join tens of thousands of amateurs and professionals to be part of this social exercise to map and document the world's biological diversity.   

 

Melanie and Dave will explain how to take a photo that is identifiable, how to crop and then post it with the correct information and location.  Embedded in the matrix at iNaturalist are many sub-projects, including one for Boulder County.  Our presenters will tell of the information that has been gleaned from this local collection of postings.  What have been the surprises?  You will be invited to a challenge, vying with Fort Collins, Denver and other municipalities as to which City adds more to their respective databases.  

This is a superb tool for an individual to make important contributions including even the possibility of discovering a species unknown to science!  You will be heartened by the response of others willing to share their knowledge and help you learn more about our wondrous natural world.

Below is more information about the City Nature Challenge:

 

Wild Boulder will be competing in the 2018 City Nature Challenge. The City Nature Challenge (CNC) is essentially a 4-day bioblitz where over 65 cities are competing to see who has the most nature in their region. Denver is also competing. 😊 Attached are some background docs on Wild Boulder in general, as well as the CNC. I also have an initial web page created here.

 

We’ll be asking individuals/groups/schools/etc to upload their plant and wildlife observations from Boulder County to this project page here from April 27-30^th. Additionally, we’ll hold a kick-off event on Friday, April 27^th at Foothills Community Park from 4-7pm.  Visit the attachments below for even more information.