Sequoia Riverlands Trust and iNatting

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For two of the last three weekends I went down to Tulare County with @kueda and @robberfly to check out some properties owned by Sequoia Riverlands Trust (SRT), including Blue Oak Ranch Preserve, pictured above. Sam Weiser (@sweiser), SRT's Education Coordinator, is the one who reached out and told us they were wanting to use iNaturalist more extensively on their properties and in my personal opinion they're doing an excellent job with outreach and education, we had a lot of fun. Other iNat users I met were @jvaughn2000 and @nancyb, and I'm sure I'm missing some others. It was really a great community.

Sam mentioned that SRT would like to really get an idea of what's living on their properties, so I'm just tagging a few iNat friends who might want to take a trip out to the Central Valley and the foothills to check out these places. A few are open to the public, but others are only open for special occasions. There will be a wildflower event at Blue Oak on April 6th and from what Ken-ichi and I saw plenty of plants were sprouting so I'm thinking it will be a good show. I'd love to go but have a previous engagement, alas.

Here is SRT's umbrella project: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/biodiversity-of-srt-s-nature-preserves

And their calendar: https://sequoiariverlands.org/what-were-up-to/

I should also note I'm writing this from a personal perspective and not as a representative of iNaturalist.

@catchang @gyrrlfalcon @dpom @rjadams55 @ang @sea-kangaroo @accordiongordon @leptonia @damontighe @eddiebug @flygrl67 @hfabian @merav and I'm sure I'm forgetting many others.

Posted on 12 March, 2019 22:35 by tiwane tiwane

Comments

Gorgeous! Thanks for the heads-up and I certainly wouldn't mind doing some naturalizing in Tulare county.

Posted by rjadams55 over 5 years ago

Thanks for the trip, Tony. I was impressed with Sam’s leadership and the possibilty of what gems might be hiding in that vast track of land. Splendid morning. Folks should really make the effort.

Posted by robberfly over 5 years ago

Intriguing! Will consider it.

Posted by gyrrlfalcon over 5 years ago

Thanks for the info, @tiwane! Is the idea we would do a BioBlitz during the April 6th event, or some other nearby date (s)?

Posted by torres-grant over 5 years ago

@sweiser would be the one to ask, but I don't think any formal blitz is planned. Just exploring at iNatting.

Posted by tiwane over 5 years ago

This sounds like a wonderful opportunity! I don't have a car, but if you or someone else is willing to pick me up from Berkeley, please keep me updated. I'd love to go!

Posted by accordiongordon over 5 years ago

Perfect timing, since I'm driving to southern California and back this week. I'll take 99 instead of 5 and check a couple of these out!

Posted by sea-kangaroo over 5 years ago

Thanks for the shoutout @tiwane, we had a great time with you and @robberfly! I'm happy for anyone to message me with questions about our preserves or our events, or if you prefer to email mine is sam@sequoiariverlands.org. The event on April 6th will be a wildflower walk with the purpose of showcasing some of the native wildflowers that we have in the foothills of Tulare County. We won't have a true bioblitz, but we will be iNatting the flowers we see and anything else we find interesting. Additionally, because of all the rain this year we will be hosting an event to check out our vernal pools at our James K. Herbert Wetland Prairie Preserve on March 23. We also have burrowing owls and an abundance of other bird species at that preserve. Let me know if you would like any more info on either of these events or about visiting any of the preserves at a separate time.

Posted by sweiser over 5 years ago

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