We're getting started early this year! In coordination with Emily Fano from NWF's Eco-Schools program, I'll be leading a teacher-focused iNaturalist training at Macaulay Honors College on October 10. We'll be covering the following:
- An overview of the CNC and how to get your class or school involved
- How to use iNaturalist to make good observations
- How to use iNaturalist projects
- An overview of the educator toolkit associated with CNC
- Other opportunities to integrate citizen science projects into the classroom leading up to CNC
Space is limited! If you are interested, please register here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/NWF2019CityNatureChallenge
If you're interested in getting in some practice on iNaturalist ahead of the CNC in April, there will be some opportunities for you to do so in the coming months.
The main one to watch for are the NYC EcoFlora Project's monthly missions called EcoQuests. Each month, you can join this project to find a particular type of plant (September is Find Fraxinus month). The main project page (https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/new-york-city-ecoflora) has updates that list the individual month's missions and events led by Daniel Atha from NYBG. You can also find out more here: https://www.nybg.org/plant-research-and-conservation/center-for-conservation-strategy/ecoquest-challenge/
Another citizen science opportunity is the Squirrel Census. This project is not on iNaturalist, but it is a good way to get students or people in your organization out observing nature. More info can be found here: https://www.thesquirrelcensus.com/volunteer
