City Nature Challenge 2022: South Florida (#CNCSOFLO)'s Journal

Hi everyone!

I have been meaning to post a journal entry here with some useful resources for anyone interested in the City Nature Challenge and will get to that soon... In the meantime, I realized I should share this ASAP as it's a fantastic opportunity to get out into Everglades National Park with some fellow nature lovers this Saturday!

The trip is completely free and open to the public!

It's a guided hike through Long Pine Key to Osteen Hammock. Entrance to Everglades National Park is normally a minimum of $30 (7-day pass is the cheaper option and the year pass for $55 is the more expensive, but probably cheaper-in-the-long-run-option) BUT this trip happens to fall on a "Free Entrance" day, so make sure to take advantage of that!

This trip will mainly focus on the plants in the area but Lydia, the botanist leading the field trip, also has a keen eye for insects, including native butterflies and bees that we will see out there! Check out Lydia's iNaturalist profile here: https://www.inaturalist.org/people/lydiamc & her Instagram here: @lydia.cuna

You can read more about the field trip (9AM-12PM), including meeting place and other details here:
https://teamup.com/event/show/id/7BruNscug6wcoApNcAGGLUuGbC6RNx

Here is a link to the organization that set the field trip up, the Dade Chapter of the Florida Native Plant Society:
https://dade.fnpschapters.org/

Hope to see some of you out there!
-Joe MDO

Hi everyone!

We are a little under two weeks away from the beginning of the 2022 City Nature Challenge! With the CNC right around the corner, we wanted to make sure everyone is aware of a few resources that may be particularly helpful.

CNCSOFLO website:
https://www.cncsoflo.com/
Check the site out for events during the CNC weekend.
If you are planning on hosting an event, make sure to register your event so we can include it on the site!

@cncsoflo Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/cncsoflo/?hl=en
Follow our Instagram for interactive posts including quizzes and polls about South Florida biodiversity.

iNat document
Looking for best practices and other info about iNaturalist? The link below contains a document with plenty of info and help on how to navigate the website and app, with a focus on our SoFlo biodiversity.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bqiz6b1QgJr6wVIA2F906U-5txKsvdSu/view?usp=sharing

I also broke the document into some of the more important bits if you are looking for specific info:
Why iNaturalist?- https://drive.google.com/file/d/11LcTj8tdiafHMA-U6dUjcr5EJq_Mjeku/view?usp=sharing
Best practices & things to avoid- https://drive.google.com/file/d/1P0CSyCk0v8czcVXliH5ldAeHgnCsNpvU/view?usp=sharing
How to upload and use iNaturalist- https://drive.google.com/file/d/1l1-JvixUc9AQI6nsefjCDixQHGvlYlHf/view?usp=sharing
Research Grade, Needs ID, Casual Grade explained-https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OmLzvL_l-PjDXbfDgLjXkF0x_qgO2U19/view?usp=sharing
iNat extras (cool features newer users may not be familiar with-https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YQ5-X9Q7UFS4baukgAVqLW1KC-Mai-BI/view?usp=sharing

South Florida Lawn Weeds Guide:
https://www.inaturalist.org/guides/9022
Did you know lawn weeds are one of the easiest examples of biodiversity to observe just about anywhere you go? This guide includes the most common lawn weeds found in South Florida, loosely in order from most common & widely distributed to least common. While photographing lawn weeds, keep an eye out for pollinators and other little critters that use them as habitat!

Community service
Do you know any students in need of community service hours? You can contact me at joemdo.inaturalist@gmail.com with the student's username and I will provide community service hours equal to 1 hour for every 10 observations posted during the City Nature Challenge. The observations need to be either Needs ID or Research Grade to count. For more info, check out the following document:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wnT6_MFbu6zIdjT9fknLXnRGsW_EOGZi/view?usp=sharing

Thanks for reading and happy iNatting!
-Joe MDO & the CNCSOFLO Team

Hi everyone!

We are a little over 24 hours away from the start of the City Nature Challenge in South Florida! If you are up on Friday at midnight, you can post some of the first observations for our team :-D You can check porch lights for moths, beetles and other bugs or photograph some lawn weeds, too.

If you are looking for info on events you can attend, check out our calendar here:
https://www.cncsoflo.com/events-2

Some locations include Virginia Key, Crandon Park and a few EEL (Environmentally Endangered Lands) locations that are normally not accessible to the public! Trinity Pineland, Rockdale Pineland and Zoo Miami's pineland are great places to explore with EEL. To learn more about the amazing work done by EEL, see here: https://www.miamidade.gov/environment/endangered-lands.asp
Note that many of the events require advanced registration so make sure to check out the link above!

On another note, keep in mind you don't need to go far to observe biodiversity. For some advice on where to look, check out this document:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PWxA4Ge8ab5Qg9w2UPinVrMnwDIJgbTz/view?usp=sharing

For more documents and resources similar to this one, check out the journal entry from last Monday here:
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/city-nature-challenge-2022-south-florida-cncsoflo/journal/63977

Good luck everyone and happy iNatting!
-Joe MDO & the CNCSOFLO Team