Native Plant Conservation Campaign News: The Indiana Florathon and Illinois Botanist Big Year initiatives use citizen science to gather botanical information.

March 29, 2018

 

NPCC Affiliates in Indiana and Illinois are using innovative citizen science initiatives to encourage people to help expand understanding of the states' flora.

 

Indiana Florathon:

The Indiana Native Plant and Wildflower Society (INPAWS) has announced their 2018 Florathon.

Florathon teams of two to six people—traveling as a group—visit natural areas in Indiana during a 24-hour period of their choosing between Friday, April 14, and Sunday, May 13, 2018. The object is to identify as many native plant species in flower as they can.

 

Raise money too!

Team members enlist sponsors (family, friends, etc.) who honor the team’s efforts by making a donation to the Indiana Native Plant & Wildflower Society. This year’s Florathon proceeds are earmarked for Letha’s Youth Outdoors Fund, which puts kids in touch with nature.

 

For more details visit http://www.inpaws.org/gatherings/florathon-2018/

 

 

The Illinois Native Plant Society’s  2018 Botanists Big Year is underway.

 

Anyone may participate, from professional botanist to plant identification novices, by uploading photographic proof of their plant sightings to an online database: iNaturalist. Through the website or mobile apps, botanical enthusiasts upload photos, a species identification, GPS location, date of sighting, and field notes. Since other iNaturalist users can help with identification, participants need not be plant experts and can learn quite a bit about plants just by snapping photos and engaging with the

community.

 

For more details visit https://ill-inps.org/illinois-botanists-big-year-2018/