🕒 EwA Monthly Livestream Minutes (05/18/21)

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Claire O'Neill

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May 18, 2021, 9:41:31 PM5/18/21
to Earthwise Aware Discussion Group, EwA CitSci Forum

EwA 05/28/21 Monthly Livestream


Thanks to all who could attend this evening's Livestream! Our next Livestream is scheduled for June 15th. Email me if you want to attend! Thanks to Kate for getting the meeting's minutes.


Attendees: Kathy, M., Jennifer, C., Joe, M., Bill, M., Natalia, C., Tom E. Margaret, M., Olivia, B., Kate, D., Claire O. 

Minutes: Kate, D.

Duration: 1hr


  • Introductions 

    • New member: Margaret M.

    • Introduced Summer 2021 interns: Kate (Brandeis University) and Olivia (Boston University)

    • Introduced present EwA regular members


  • City Nature Challenge 2021 Results

    • EwA is a member of the Boston Area steering committee for the CNC.

    • EwA supplied a substantial number iNaturalist observations for the CNC helping Boston position itself in the Intl leaderboard. Claire is the top observer for both number of observations and number of species. Joe and Dan are among top Boston Area observers.

    • For next year's challenge, we want to devise a strategy to up EwA's observations and species numbers as a team.


  • EwA Citizen Science Projects Updates

    • Fresh Pond phenology + entomo survey on Mondays with Claire and Sara -- Olivia will be focusing on this site.

    • Growing Center on Tuesdays surveying phenology and entomology with Jennifer and Sara -- Olivia will be at this site

    • Bellevue (Fells) phenology on Monday with Jennifer -- Kate be coming to this site 

    • Long Pond (Fells) phenology surveying on Wednesdays with Kathy-- Kate will be focusing on this site

    • Once a month EwA interns will visit to all the sites 

    • Habitat Degradation study on target: Protocol refinement on going with Claire + Lisa and Tom

    • Vernal Pool Survey will resume in July to complete documentation for 2021 pool certification submission

    • NB: Summer intern main project: developing species phenosheets and their associated calendar (including the analysis of EwA data + state records if needed)


  • DCR-EwA-FOF Collaboration Follow-up

    • Fells Habitat Fragmentation Collaborative project is ongoing: co-grant work in progress.

    • Talked about the number of people at Fells' EwA nature walks -- 12 guests is a good number / too many people on trail negatively affect habitats and wildlife -- See a good set of references on the topic of disturbance from recreational activities > end of this email. The key is to tune our message so that the public endorse the importance of being nature-ethical while visiting our parks, and green spaces.

    • Our walks work well because leaders can spread along the trails, getting smaller more fluid subgroups

    • Attendance to walk is suffering as the public is less inclined to accept group size limitation. Again, an important EwA task is to educate the public on wildlife ethics.

    • Friends of the fells increased their numbers to 15 -- Claire to talk to talk to FOF to enlights on the consequences of large numbers on trails

    • e-bikes as authorized motorized bikes are imminent in all DCR properties (considered by the DCR as same class bikes as regular bikes). This is a huge blow to conservation initiatives to protect urban wildlife spaces. Monitoring on trails will become important for EwA members. Reporting any bike on non-authorized trails at the time of sighting (with precise geolocation) to ParkWatch is recommended, as these calls have to be logged, and this shows the DCR that the public is watching (and monitoring). Parkwatch number (that one can add on speed dial: 866-759-2824


  • Fundraising: GoFundme EwA Citizen Science Campaign launch (this week) + EwA Give Page (Update) + discussed paired Summer Appeal mailchimp campaign

    • Gofund me page > $20,000 goal

    • Will be sending campaign to EwA community + partner organizations -- Natalia asks to let her know if we think of anyone else to send this campaign to


[Refs]
-- Recreational trails reduce the density of ground-dwelling birds in protected areas. Thompson B. Environ Manage. 2015 May;55(5):1181-90. doi: 10.1007/s00267-015-0458-4. Epub 2015 Mar 27. PMID: 25813628
-- Effects of Recreation on Animals Revealed as Widespread through a Global Systematic Review. Courtney L. Larson, Sarah E. Reed, Adina M. Merenlender, and Kevin R. Crooks 

Hideyuki Doi, Editor PLoS One. 2016; 11(12): e0167259. Published online 2016 Dec 8. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0167259. PMCID: PMC5145168

-- Effects of Non-consumptive Recreation on Wildlife in California. Journal for the Conservation and Management of California’s Species and Ecosystems (Sept 2020)

Cheers! - Claire

 

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