As we return to our in-person field schools this year we will be taking some of the good experiences from virtual learning as well. Environmental science field school will be incorporating some use of iNaturalist again this year and encourage our alumni and previous students to get involved with helping to ID and verify our student observations. We have a roster of scientists helping to identify and verify observations from the previous virtual field school. The ENVS2523 iNaturalist project page (https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/envs2523) will link both previous and future field school observations in April and May to create a database of species observations over time. From last year we have logged 412 observations of 239 species, and this has involved 17 student or instructor observers and 189 external identifiers. Anyone can view the project progress and observations with this link, however only members can add to the project.

Alumni who are interested in being an “identifier” on the project can send a quick e-mail to (nelson.odriscoll@acadiau.ca) to confirm you are an alumni then “sign up” for an iNaturalist account here (https://www.inaturalist.org/),  go to the community Tab and select “Projects”, then search and link to ENVS2523 project (you will have to request to be a member in order to comment). That will allow you to see all student finds from last year and into the future (which means you can help to positive identify finds in future years if you like). We will track finds in April and May on this site. it’s a fun way to connect current and previous Acadia students in Environmental Science.