iNaturalist is a joint initiative by the California Academy of Sciences and the National Geographic Society created to compile sightings of biota – plants, animals, fungi – to identify their places and ranges. It is a public driven resource entirely, offering free memberships.
The Athens Conservancy has an established iNaturalist project for sightings of living things on our nature preserves. We urge you to join and contribute to our project at https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/athens-conservancy-preserves-in-ohio or click the link found after the description of each preserve listed in the drop-down menu of our website.
Usually, when you use your smart phone or some of the newer cameras, the
GPS location is automatically recorded, and this will upload with your photograph. If not, then you need to be able to point very specifically (on a map utility provided) the location of the observation. The site may also suggest an identification using a computer algorithm. You can accept that ID or type in your own. You may also browse other people’s observations.
