Help us celebrate 100 years of the National Park Service with 100,000 observations!
This is the centennial year for the National Park Service and we've organized BioBlitzes all over the country to celebrate. In addition to that, we're tallying everything that people observe in our National Parks in 2016, whether during a BioBlitz or not! Founder's Day, the birthday itself, is celebrated on August 25 and we would love to pass the 100,000 observations mark by that date. Right now we're at 94,507. Can you help us get to 100,000 in the next 16 days?
Is there a National Park near you? Check out this map to find out. If so, get out there and share what you find on iNaturalist. If not, it's never too late to plan that before-school-starts-end-of-summer-trip and work in some parks. ;) Also, if you have photos from any National Parks from earlier this year that you haven't uploaded yet, now is the time.
I'll be out in Rocky Mountain National Park this Friday hiking and observing. Hope to see you in your National Parks too! We can do this! Keep exploring!
Simon
Comments
Big thanks to everyone who has been observing in the National Parks, especially @reallifeecology, @rcurtis, @terrydad2, @silversea_starsong, @shaunmichael, and @dpom who have each contributed more than 800 observations! @silversea_starsong is also far and away the top identifier in this project as well.
August 15, Crater Lake National Park, August 17, Olympic National Park. I'll be there!
Hey. I tried to put a photo observation into this project and it would not take it. Then I noticed that the Great Smoky Mountains NP was not part of the list of places that an observation can come from. Is this an oversight? We can contribute a lot to the National project!
Oh, I think I see why it didn't make it in. My photo was from Purchase Knob - a relatively new Smokies aquisition, that may not have been included in the park map for the iNaturalist project. This property was donated to the Smokies park about 10 years ago. It makes a little piece of land that hangs off the Eastern end of the traditional park boundary in North Carolina.
Chuck, you can see the boundary here: http://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=72645
Does that exclude Purchase Knob?
The project aggregates from the official boundaries (as shared with the NPS BioBlitz data team and then with iNaturalist), so if the boundary is out of date then that would explain it. There's a similar issue at Acadia National Park that we're trying to resolve. If someone from the park shares the correct boundary as a shapefile or KML with @forester93 it can be updated.
@chuck522 The less simplified boundary is here: http://www.inaturalist.org/places/great-smoky-mountains-national-park-919bab34-239d-41e3-a415-874abfcd8ea3
As Carrie noted, if the park has a more up-to-date boundary, you can send me a shapefile or KML. Message me for an NPS email address if you don't already have it.
@carrieseltzer No problem! I don't live near any national parks no I'm making sure to contribute via identifications where possible.
Don't suppose anyone has a secret bus or jet that runs from Orange County CA to any of the upcoming bioblitzes!?
The Santa Monica Mountains count! For not living near any national parks you've made an impressive contribution!
I live in Orange County now so that's a bit far from the SMM and such.
@silversea_starsong I went to high school in Orange County - a bit of an NPS black hole, but within striking distance of Cabrillo NM, Joshua Tree NP, Santa Monica Mountains NRA, and Channel Islands NP, though that's assuming you've got wheels and all day to spare.
100,170 at midnight ET! Yay!!!
Woohoo! 100,259 Observations at 7:39 am MT, plus 10,385 Species, by 4,921 people! Way to go, iNatters! You've done your national parks proud.
I was excited to be uploading when the number flipped!
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