HELP WANTED – Bio Blitz Project at Old Fairview, Oliver Feb 2025
You may recall me talking briefly at past meetings in 2025 about a project being undertaken at the old Fairview townsite West of Oliver. The goal is to inventory as much of the biodiversity as possible that can be found on the approx. 80 hectare site. This data will be used to support conservation efforts of this site. An iNaturalist project has been created which will be use as a platform to do this bioblitz. https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/fairview-heritage-townsite-bioblitz . There is funding available to support volunteers in doing this and our club has been asked to help.
There are some members in the club who use iNaturalists on a regular basis and are familiar with how it works. One of the benefits of this platform is that one does not have to actually know what you have photographed to add it to the collection and usually the AI will produce options (very often a correct identification) Others people with more knowledge help with identification by reviewing the pictures and confirming or adding an identification. Recent testing showed that it has a greater then 95% accuracy.
One of the challenges is making sure that the correct parts of a particular specimen needed for identification is detailed in the picture. It is not a perfect system, but like most things; practice makes perfect, and I have found it to be a great learning tool.
This is a three year project and it is anticipated that we will organize three or four group visits a year at different times to try to capture as much biodiversity as possible. One of the great things about an iNaturalists project is that you can go anytime you wish and add things.
We will be starting with a learning session on how iNaturalists works and cover o some of the best practises and photo requirements. You do not need a great camera and a cell phone often gives good results. We will then establish a bit of a protocol and go out and get to it.
If you are interested in participating, please let me know. You do not have to go out every time and you will be free to stop in at the site any time and contribute. I am hoping to have a learning session sometime in the last two weeks of March then go out for our first session in early April, followed by one in the summer and fall.
Ariel Vernon who is leading this project will be at our meeting on Feb 27 and will give a brief presentation on the project and be available for any questions that you may have.
Alex
Skaha Lake Property Acquisition
SONC’s Board has approved a $500 donation to the Nature Trust of BC in support of this land acquisition. We urge individual members to also support this campaign by making a donation to The Nature Trust. Get your cheque to either of Colleen Emshay (club treasurer) or Chris Anderson (membership) and we will make a combined presentation to TNT. Make your cheque to The Nature Trust of BC and note for “Skaha Lake Eastside”.
Click on the link for more information on this property.
March 2017