- Author: Sarah Angulo
Discovery. Stewardship. Action. Service is at the core of being a certified California Naturalist. It's why for the start of National Volunteer Week, we take this special opportunity to thank our naturalists for their 47,055 hours of volunteer hours recorded in 2019 alone. While these hours hold an astonishing monetary value of $1,409,297, what's done within these hours holds so much more value to the people and places of California. From designing new interpretive walks, creating guides, monitoring water quality, creating art, participating in restoration work days, and almost 4,000 other volunteer projects from our certified naturalists, they have all changed the way others learn about and experience the natural world.
Volunteering time to complete a 40-hour course, plus an 8-hour capstone project, shows dedication to learning and sharing California's natural history. Our naturalists turn the content knowledge gained in our courses into a deeper love, appreciation, and understanding for the places they live. Naturalists are stones dropped in a pond, whose work creates ripples effects into their communities and throughout the statewide program.
As we experience changes in access to the outdoors and natural spaces, volunteering in the same capacities also changes. We celebrate the work of our naturalists and offer a chance to continue doing what our naturalists do best! We ask our naturalists to join our statewide California Naturalist iNaturalist project to help us continue to consolidate all contributions into one statewide project. If you are a certified naturalist, simply join the project, and all your observations taken in California will be added to the project.
Engaging with iNaturalist is not only a core requirement for becoming a certified naturalist, it's a tool for staying connected. With the coming City Nature Challenge April 24-27 encouraging us to safely explore and record the nature in our immediate homes and neighborhoods, naturalists have an opportunity to do what they do best. You can contribute your observations or ID skills towards scientific biodiversity data. How have you gotten ready for the City Nature Challenge? Let us know by filling out one of the prompts in our survey. If you want to learn more about the City Nature Challenge, go to the main page.
From the CalNat team, thank you for all that you have done and continue to do in service to California's natural ecosystems!
- Author: sabrina drill
As stay-at-home and lockdown orders disconnect us from people and places, our access to nature and our nature-loving communities has drastically changed. Contributing to citizen and community science projects (CCS) can help us stay connected. Here are some ideas to get started, but you can find a huge world of projects at SciStarter.
Projects when you can get outside – in a park, a neighborhood walk, or your own backyard.
iNat is a social network for nature. It's a platform for thousands of CCS, serving as a repository of biodiversity data that's easy for anyone to add to. . Once you create a free account, with a cell phone,tablet, or computer you can start uploading your own observations of nature by uploading a photo or sound clip. For the best experience, make sure your location is turned on. Along with your picture, the app will record the time and location. These are the metadata (data about the data) that you and other community and professional scientists can use to understand more about the biodiversity around you. Once you post your observation, you can use a built in feature to automatically help you identify it. Other iNat users can also help you identify what you saw. When another user confirms your ID, it's considered research grade. You can join existing projects that collect observations from many users – for example, the City Nature Challenge compares biodiversity across metropolitan areas all over the world. You can also create your own projects – for example a class or a school can have all their students contribute their observations to a project. You can also use existing observations to create field guides for your neighborhood, school, or town.
Teachers can use the main iNat app if their students are over the age of 13. However, if poor quality observations are uploaded, that reduces the credibility of the overall iNat database. Students under or over 13 can also use Seek by iNaturalist, which shows suggested IDs, what's been found nearby, and gives badges for finding diverse taxa.. For more information about using iNat in the K12 classroom, check out the Teacher's Guide.
If you have, or are interested in putting up, a birdfeeder, you can participate in Project Feederwatch from your backyard, or even from behind a window! The project lets you contribute important data about the distribution and behavior of common backyard birds. Not sure about your photography skills? NO need! The Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology backs you up with an easy to use upload platform and guides to identifying your birds. You can find other Cornell citizen science projects here.
Great Sunflower Project: Pollinator Friendly Plants
Many pollinator species are in trouble – you can help scientists understand how to help them! The Great Sunflower Project started out in California. Participants were asked to plant a specific sunflower species and record what kinds and how many insects visited it. You can now participate from anywhere in the US with any plants in your backyard (as long as you are positive of their identification) through the Pollinator Friendly Plants project. You create an account, then report how many pollinators you can observe over 5 minute periods. Data sheets, and identification guides to bees and other pollinators are available at their website.
This project is all about learning and helping to collect data about how plants change over the course of a year – from budding, to flowering, to leafing out, to, for many trees, dropping leaves. The science of studying how organisms react to environmental changes in day length, temperature, rainfall etc. throughout the year is called phenology – and changes in phenology are evidence of changes in climatic conditions. Tracking this can be a little difficult for younger family members, but kids can learn about these changes in their own yard or in public or natural areas with the new Budburst for Families program, and teachers can visit here.
Interested in the weather? You can contribute to understanding how weather varies across the world, and changes in weather with the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail, and Snow network. With a few simple tools – a rain gauge and a DIY hail pad, you can collect data about one of our most precious resources, fresh water, and contribute information that can be used to inform emergency preparation for communities during storm events. Learn more about it through their introductory slide show. Getting started and entering data will need quite a bit of help from adults for younger participants.
Projects to contribute to science from your computer
Your help is needed to identify natural phenomenon from remote locations! With increases in computing power and devices for remotely observing, the number of images these projects have collected is greater than what professional scientists can process. From images of remote galaxies to wildlife captured on trail cameras, you can help turn images into data from anywhere with internet connection. Hundreds of project opportunities can be found at Zooniverse. A few projects are highlighted below.
Identify new worlds from space: the final frontier! At Galaxy Zoo, you'll help search through images sent from remove orbital telescopes to find new galaxies and stars.
Remote Camera Identification
Help identify creatures from trail cameras set up throughout the US with EMammal. You can participate even if you are unsure of your ID skills. As they point out, if 20 untrained observers identify an image as a deer, it's probably a deer. There are several sub-projects for different regions. Zooniverse also hosts similar projects all over the world, with several in hard to reach destinations in Africa, the Antarctic, and across the US and Canada – see if there is one for your town, state, or province! Interested in oceans? Floating Forests asks you to help monitor kelp forests.
CCS at UC ANR
Community and citizen science (CCS) refers to scientific research conducted, in whole or in part, by amateur or nonprofessional scientists. As both a field of research and an evolving area of scientific practice, CCS has grown rapidly in recent years. UCANR has been engaging with the public and a variety of clientele communities for more than a century, and much of this engagement has involved clientele participating directly in research.
Read our roadmap for community science at ANR.
Find CCS project opportunities through the UC California Naturalist Program
Research publications
MERENLENDER, A.M., CRALL, A.W., DRILL, S., PRYSBY, M., and BALLARD, H. 2016. Evaluating environmental education, citizen science, and stewardship through naturalist programs. Conservation Biology (pdf)
Most people don't automatically seek on-line resources when want to deepen their naturalist practice and knowledge. However, increasingly many of the tools of modern naturalists are online, like iNaturalist. In response to recent "shelter in place" orders and an increasing demand for online and hybrid delivery courses in general, we are curating a list of our favorite online resources for quality California-focused natural history education.
Online Content
We have tried to choose resources across multiple topical interests and types, in-line with California Naturalist curriculum. Most are either explicitly teacher or adult-focused, or can be adapted to an adult audience. This list is growing and is by no means exhaustive. It is sorted by subject.
Name |
Subject |
Type |
botany |
video and worksheets |
|
California Native Plant Society Botanical Activities for Kids |
botany |
lesson plans |
California Native Plant Society native plant information & resources |
botany |
multiple |
botany |
games, worksheets |
|
botany |
videos |
|
botany, gardening |
multiple |
|
climate change |
multiple |
|
NNOCCI National Network for Ocean & Climate Change Interpretation |
climate change |
training, webinars, worksheets |
community science |
participate in IDing flora/fauna |
|
community science |
participate in research |
|
community science, wildlife |
participate in research |
|
current events/global issues |
videos |
|
ecology |
videos |
|
ecology |
publications |
|
ecology, entomology, special events |
videos |
|
ecology, history |
multiple |
|
entomology |
insect ID, information |
|
entomology |
insect ID, research |
|
environmental ed |
lesson plans |
|
environmental ed |
lesson plans |
|
environmental ed |
activities |
|
environmental ed |
webcam |
|
environmental ed |
lesson plans |
|
environmental ed |
videos, activitites |
|
environmental ed |
videos, plans, activitites |
|
environmental ed |
webcam |
|
environmental ed |
lesson plans |
|
UC Lawrence Hall of Science out-of-school educator resources |
environmental ed |
multiple |
environmental ed, weather |
videos, activities |
|
forests |
videos, lesson plans, information |
|
forests |
publications, videos |
|
forests, climate change |
information, tools, publications |
|
marine ecology |
webcam resource kits |
|
marine ecology, fisheries |
curriculum, videos, information |
|
marine, coastal ecology |
videos |
|
multiple |
information tours |
|
multiple |
virtual tours |
|
multiple |
videos, images |
|
multiple |
videos |
|
multiple |
videos, PDFs |
|
nature journaling |
lesson plans |
|
nature journaling |
online PDF/Pre-order Book |
|
nature journaling |
lesson plans |
|
rangeland management |
publications |
|
water |
publications, current research blog |
|
water |
lesson plans, publications |
|
wildfire, fire ecology |
research, publications |
|
wildlife |
bird ID, information |
|
wildlife |
webcam |
|
California Academy of Sciences Webcams- Farallones, aquarium, penguins |
wildlife |
webcam |
wildlife |
webcam |
|
wildlife |
herpetofauna ID, information |
|
wildlife |
webcam |
|
wildlife |
webcam |
|
Exploring Conservation Training- National Geographic Society |
wildlife |
free training |
wildlife |
webcam |
|
wildlife |
webcam |
UC California Naturalist and our UC Agriculture & Natural Resources statewide program partner Project Learning Tree (PLT) have joined forces to offer a series of workshops in 2020.
Project Learning Tree uses trees and forests as windows on the world to increase students' understanding of the environment and actions they can take to conserve it. Since 1976, PLT has reached 138 million students and trained 765,000 educators to help students learn how to think, not what to think about complex environmental issues.
PLT's professional development helps educators learn how to integrate environmental education into their teaching and become comfortable teaching outdoors—in urban, suburban, and rural environments. Workshops and online courses teach educators how best to use PLT's instructional materials with their own students in their own setting and how to engage with (and draw upon) their community in learning about and taking action to address local environmental issues. Continuing education credits are available in most states.
In-person trainings include one-day workshops, in-service days, a series of classes spread throughout a semester, week-long institutes, and other sustained and intensive models. These events are planned and conducted by certified facilitators and customized for specific grade levels, topics, and teaching situations. While we love the in-person contact time when facilitating these workshops, an online course can be completed in your own time, wherever you are. The courses for early childhood, K-8, and becoming a GreenSchool include demonstration videos, simulations, planning exercises, and state-specific resources. Learn more.
The second event took place on March 4 at the Los Angeles Arboretum and Botanic Garden, as day two of a California Naturalist new instructor workshop. New instructors from Bolsa Chica Conservancy, Nature For All, Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanic Garden, and Community Nature Connection, plus a handful of our existing partners including the Catalina Island Conservancy and the Southern California Mountains Foundation Urban Conservation Corps participated.
Join us to learn about ways to integrate this award-winning curriculum into your programs and teaching. These upcoming events are co-led and sponsored by California Naturalist.
- Author: Eliot Freutel
If you follow CalNat on social media, this picture taken by Shane Feirer (a colleague at UCANR Hopland Research and Education Center) might look familiar to you.
Shane went out to his yard one evening to cook dinner for his family on the BBQ. When he opened it up, he found it was FULL of acorns. Turns out that an industrious Acorn Woodpecker had been storing its fall/winter cache of acorns inside. He snapped a quick photo and passed it along to the CalNat Staff. Having spent so many hours connecting with our naturalists, we knew they would appreciate the whimsical inconvenience and ingenuity of this industrious woodpecker and decided to share his picture as a social media post. What started as a regular Wednesday post ended up reaching over 54,000 people! It is currently on track to be our most successful social media post to date!
We were shocked at how something so silly and inconvenient could have such an impact on our audience. As we talked more and more about why this particular post was doing so well, it occurred to us that our naturalists identify with this photo on several levels:
- Place - This animal repurposed a BBQ for its survival. Some might view this as an inconvenience while others see it as next level intelligence and adaptability. Regardless, we don't always find nature where we think it should be.
- Small things add up - By collecting and storing one acorn at a time, this woodpecker has made a noticeable impact on its habitat. Similarly, one person volunteering a few hours here and there might not seem significant but overtime the impact is massive!
From all of this, we couldn't help but draw a parallel to our naturalists' impact on California's habitat through collective and individual volunteering overtime: over 700 naturalists have totaled more than 46,000 volunteer hours in 2019! This averages out to 131 hours per naturalist! WOW!
In recognition of this collective impact, the CalNat program offers an annual service pin to naturalists who log 40 or more hours of volunteer time in the VMS. This year's pin is the Spanish Shawl and was designed by Eva Boynton, a naturalist from Pacific Grove Natural History Museum.
So thank you for your service hours and go “fill your BBQs” with those 40 “acorn” hours and remember to log them in the VMS! (There's still time to enter 2019 hours!)
Eliot