San Mateo County Bio-Blitz's Journal

Journal archives for January 2014

11 January, 2014

Why Do We Do This Project?

The San Mateo County Bio-Blitz continues to grow, with 130 members, almost 1600 species, and close to 9000 observations. But why does this project exist, and why should we continue to grow it?

This project, started in April 2013 when Sequoia Audubon's monthly meeting featured Scott Loarie and Ken-ichi Ueda as presenters on iNaturalist, had, as its first goal, to motivate local birders and naturalists to document more of what they were seeing across all taxa. Second, the existence of the project can serve as an addendum and source for enriching the already-existing San Mateo County Birding Guide that Sequoia maintains as a site guide. Third, the presence of the project adds impetus to scheduling more Bio-Blitzes in the county.

Most importantly, though, a project like this allows us to channel local energy for learning more about nature - the purpose of iNat itself, after all. And, when certain taxa are affected by changes in natural conditions - as is happening this winter with starfish (the Pisaster Disaster), we will, over the years, have assembled a modest data base for comparison, and for purposes of education.

Oh, and, in the meantime, we're having fun, getting outdoors, and adding some drops to the ocean of knowledge. All in all, not bad!

Keep on observing, photographing, IDing, and entering data!

Posted on 11 January, 2014 16:12 by gyrrlfalcon gyrrlfalcon | 2 comments | Leave a comment