Photo by Craig Martin | Agapostemon on Erigeron, Los Alamos, NM
Led by Craig Martin, PEEC is hosting a new initiative that citizens can become a part of. Using the app, iNaturalist, anyone can enter photos of their observations of pollinators and plants to become part of a map and database. This is a critical tool in tracking the abundance, or lack, of native flora and fauna in Los Alamos County.
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/native-plants-and-pollinators-in-los-alamos-county
It starts on Earth Day, April 20th 2024. Any observation of plants, bees, butterflies and hummingbirds located in Los Alamos County & entered into the iNaturalist platform will automatically become uploaded to the project. Participants must have the app iNaturalist, but they don’t have to join the project to have their observations included. Craig Martin will moderate the project. iNaturalist’s AI will provide an ID for most species, but there are other New Mexico “amateur experts” who will confirm ID’s or suggest corrections (pollinators will likely be to the genus level, but plants can be to species). Non-native species will be identified as such. The goal is to collect a list of native plants and native pollinators, which will help us to create our Native Pollinator List & will create a baseline that we can measure our success by as we install more native pollinator gardens around the County! These observations will become part of a map that will identify where the species are located and where the areas of high concentration occur. In the future, this can help us protect these important local resources.
Craig will be teaching a class to introduce the use of iNaturalist at the Nature Center on April 18 at 6 PM, a couple of days before the project starts. Participants will find it valuable to have downloaded the iNaturalist app on their photos or tablets and bring that with them to the class. There is a tutorial on iNaturalist on the Friends of Bandelier website at: https://www.bandelierfriends.org/blog (Scroll about halfway down the page.)
On April 22 (the actual Earth Day), Craig be leading a PEEC wildflower walk and will assist hikers with practice using iNaturalist on the hike, although he usually does not permit the use of cell phones on his hikes. Here is a link to iNaturalist but you can also find it in Apps on your mobile device: https://www.inaturalist.org/
Email us at: contact@beecitylosalamos.org or sign up for our newsletter & event updates for more information on how to participate in this great project!