Since 1995, we have worked with our allies in the community to support, learn from, and be involved in science on the Bluff Trail and in the Woodens River Watershed. To effectively steward the area that we are mandated to take care of, we need to understand the area and the changes it is going through; particularly in relation to our human presence & impact upon it. Science is the most reliable way we have to gain that understanding. That, in turn, helps inform our stewardship work.
We are living in exciting times! Citizen science has opened up a world of science done on a whole different scale. Scientists themselves are often constrained by the limits of their own time, money & the geographic constraints of their individual efforts. But today, enlisting help from ordinary people around the world and having them participate in numerous citizen science projects, those limits can be exceeded. With the iNaturalist platform you can now make a meaningful contribution to science and to stewardship of the trail at the same time. Read more about how to put your your observations of Bluff Trail life on the map in this post introducing iNaturalist on the Bluff Trail.
Here are some of the species our users are finding on the trail: