New Hampshire celebrates 1,000,000 verifiable iNaturalist records

[Steven Lamonde]

Good evening, fellow naturalists,

At 10:15pm tonight, avid iNaturalist user Arianwen Jones (@arianwenjones) submitted New Hampshire's one-millionth verifiable (Needs ID or Research Grade) observation - a Common Eastern Bumblebee! This milestone has been a long time coming, and we are the fifth New England state to achieve it.

New Hampshire still trails most other New England states in total observations and observations per square mile, yet we are closing the gap to Maine in the observations per capita category. 

State	iNaturalist Observations	Human Population	Area (mi2)	Observations per Capita	Observations per 1mi2
Connecticut	1,082,071	3,675,069	5,543	0.29	195.21
Maine	1,209,476	1,405,012	35,385	0.86	34.18
Massachusetts	3,504,919	7,136,171	10,555	0.49	332.06
New Hampshire	1,000,000	1,409,032	9,350	0.71	106.95
Rhode Island	312,952	1,112,308	1,545	0.28	202.56
Vermont	1,555,875	648,493	9,217	2.40	168.80

Currently, butterflies make up 4.1% of New Hampshire's total iNaturalist observations and 16% of insect observations. Many thanks to the NH Butterfly Monitoring Network (iNat project) for inspiring many of us to document more butterflies. 

As autumn progresses into winter, I encourage other iNaturalist users to help with identifications and annotations. These actions greatly increase the scientific value of each observation. For anyone who would like to learn more about iNaturalist identifications and annotations, or iNaturalist in general, Nate Marchessault (@natemarchessault) and I will be hosting a workshop at the Harris Center for Conservation Education this February. Keep an eye on the Harris Center's event calendar over the next few weeks to claim your spot!

Happy iNatting,

Steven Lamonde

Hancock, NH

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Steven Lamonde, MS

Affiliate Faculty - Department of Environmental Studies

Manager - Antioch Spatial Analysis Lab

Antioch University New England

Keene, New Hampshire

[George DeWolf]

Very exciting! Nice summary, Steven! Thanks for sharing!

Every observation we post on iNaturalist enhances our understanding of the natural world. As some of you know, I've given a number of butterfly presentations over the past few years. I wouldn't have ventured down this path without the collective effort of all of you—the nearly four thousand butterfly observers and over 41,000 butterfly observations posted for NH on iNat.

Although these sightings are opportunistic—reflecting where and when we choose to look—iNat remains, to the best of my knowledge, the most current and comprehensive resource for understanding when and where specific species are flying. The more observers we have out there, the more ground that is covered, and the longer the season is monitored, the less opportunistic this data becomes.

Collectively, these sightings reveal how human activity shapes ecosystems and the creatures within them. By observing, we notice, we learn, and we care—turning curiosity into awareness and stewardship.

Many thanks to everyone who posts to iNat!

George

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