AMHERST — Pioneer Valley residents can now submit photos of wild plants, animals and fungi via a free mobile app called iNaturalist as part of the fifth annual, international City Nature Challenge, which is being coordinated locally by UMass Amherst Libraries.
Melanie Radik, science and engineering librarian at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, is spearheading the City Nature Challenge here in western Massachusetts. This is the first year that UMass Amherst’s library system is participating in the international challenge.
Radik said she hopes local residents will take part in the challenge and use it as an opportunity to “take a breath and find beauty in nature and get their minds off things,” while continuing to take appropriate social distancing measures.
“Getting out in nature, going on a long walk, getting sun on your face; all of it is medically and scientifically good for you,” she added. “And if you can ignite that wonder and joy of observing a new species or finding something, even on your daily walk when you’re talking your dog around the neighborhood, all of that is absolutely good for folks.”
The City Nature Challenge was started in 2016 by citizen science teams at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco as a way to showcase urban biodiversity, according to the website for the nature challenge. The wildlife data gathered during the challenge also gives insight into urban biodiversity for scientists, urban planners, policymakers and educators. Last year, more than 963,000 observations were made.
But many cities across the country and world have dropped out of the challenge due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Radik said. Originally, the challenge would have featured bird experts and ecologists giving group tours to people involved with the nature challenge; due to the public health crisis, those activities aren’t taking place.
“There’s a lot of fear and uncertainty now, so I won’t be at all surprised if we don’t get many people compared to what we might have gotten if we weren’t in this situation,” she added.
Radik also has led organization efforts for the nature challenge here in the Pioneer Valley via an information guide and a series of virtual workshops on the UMass Amherst Libraries website.
“The virtual workshops were initially meant to be in person, but have transitioned reasonably well online,” she said. “I did have to cancel the ones that were going to be nature walks with some ecology grad students to help with identification. The ones that are still going are short, half-hour ones about getting familiar with the app, iNaturalist, that the Pioneer Valley is using to track our observations.”
This Tuesday, a virtual workshop will focus on how to identify different species being photographed, she explained.
Rebecca Reznik-Zellen, head of the Science and Engineering Library at UMass Amherst, said she believes the project is an opportunity for local residents to get to know the landscape and wildlife in their area.
“I think it’s one of the many ways that libraries are working right now to support their communities, especially during COVID,” she added. “It’s a great way to get people outside and get people interacting in a safe way in their neighborhood.”
The submission period for the City Nature Challenge is April 24-27, followed by a period of crowdsource-based identification of species from April 28-May 3. The results of the challenge will be announced May 4.
Chris Goudreau can be reached at cgoudreau@gazettenet.com. For more information about the City Nature Challenge in the Pioneer Valley, visit guides.library.umass.edu/c.php?g=1007933. A list of virtual workshops for the nature challenge can be found at libcal.library.umass.edu/calendar/events.