Discover ideas and resources for environmental monitoring activities that you can do at home, at the office, or in local greenspaces. You will learn how to find and identify a wide variety of plants, insects, and animals using interactive species ID apps and field guides in your own community—no prior knowledge of nature is necessary! Using these apps, you will be taught how to conduct urban wildlife surveys and how to contribute and submit nature observations to online databases for citizen science.
Why it matters:
Observations submitted to the organization's iNaturalist page and the global iNaturalist network help communities understand local biodiversity trends, track changes in populations for common and at-risk species, contribute to environmental learning for local schools and community groups as well as the general public and create research quality data for scientists working to better understand and protect nature. The organization further explores the datasets with local groups to help communities understand and act on local and global issues, including providing quality habitat for pollinators, supporting biodiversity, and reducing the environmental impacts of climate change with more resilient ecosystems.The exact use of any given nature observation would depend of the location and the species that was observed.
Agenda:
- Visit.org Welcome: Making an Impact Together (5 minutes)
- Land Acknowledgement, Introduction, and Conversation Starter (7 minutes)
- Becoming a Citizen Scientist (35 minutes)
- Q&A, Calls to Action, and Wrap-Up (8 minutes)
- Celebrating the Impact (5 minutes)
