A Ranger's iNaturalist Journey

By. Tyler Barron

I was first exposed to the program iNaturalist as an undergraduate in an introductory ecology class at University of Idaho. After a few uses, I fell in love with the utility and potential of the platform (plus it is fun to upload observations). iNaturalist is a community science platform that focuses on the collection of biodiversity data. Users capture a photograph or a recording of an organism and upload it to the platform. Geographic coordinates and time are also recorded when uploading an organism. The upload is identified with one ID, resulting in a casual grade (C), and two or more matching IDs, resulting in a research grade status (R).

While working as a Park Ranger for the Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation, I decided to create projects for the parks I worked in. Projects collect observations in a certain area or timeframe. iNaturalist users are already active in Idaho State Parks, and by creating collection projects, I can see what observations have been made within the parks. Thus far, there are 13 parks out of the 30 Idaho State Parks with collection projects.

These projects can help highlight the value of parks and outdoor recreation areas in the preservation of biodiversity; there are also benefits for nature interpretation, environmental education, and outdoor recreation. As an interpreter, I utilized iNaturalist as a resource to inform my programs, and it provided an archive of accessible, site-specific photographs to be used in educational materials.

I’m excited to explore the practical uses of iNaturalist in environmental education and resource management. Data to help recognize the ecological value of our open spaces is immensely important- community science platforms like iNaturalist can be a great source of data, especially with targeted programming to support diverse observations.