Our Biodiversity Squamish Project, based on the iNaturalist application, was started in March 2017 by Judith Holm. Judith imagined a way to encourage people of all ages, with all levels of knowledge and with all kinds of photographic equipment, to see more in nature and to contribute to a database used by scientists world-wide.
On the evening of March 13 2023, our 40,000th observation was added to the project. The records so far reflect 3389 species, and we know that there is much more to observe and record.
Since beginning the project Judith has acted as our Curator, which means she has reviewed almost every observation and has done extensive research to help identify many of them. Work done by scientists in the Átl’ka7tsem/Howe Sound Biosphere Region as well as in England is now enabling observations to be summarized and presented visually so that they are more accessible. The number of experts confirming identifications and offering tips is dramatically increasing. This expertise, combined with participants contributing many more observations which include precise locations, is greatly strengthening the accuracy of the identifications iNaturalist offers.
We encourage you to find out for yourself, if you haven’t already done so, how fun and fascinating it is to contribute to iNaturalist! To learn more about this project and how to get started, go to the Biodiversity Squamish Project on inaturalist, scroll down and click on ‘About’ this project. Be sure to click on ‘more’ to see the full description and useful links to the iNaturalist website. Then pick up your cell phone or your camera, head out and photograph what interests you. iNaturalist will help you with identification, as will other iNaturalist members. You can join the Biodiversity Squamish Facebook group to share and discuss what you and others are finding.
Thanks for your contributions to the world’s knowledge of our biodiversity.