Welcome!

Kartchner Caverns State Park would like to welcome you to our data collection project! By uploading your observations of plants and animals you see in the park, our natural resources staff can start to get a better idea of the diversity and frequency of certain species, especially around high visitor-use areas.

If you're unfamiliar with this site, here's how to get involved:

1. Register as an iNaturalist user either on the website or by downloading the free smartphone app. Please be sure to review iNaturalist guidelines and familiarize yourself with the program.
2. Take photos of plants, mammals, birds, insects, or any other living organism you can find in the park. However, we ask that you use caution and don't approach wildlife for a photo op!
3. Upload your observations onto iNaturalist - including photos, date and time, trail name, and any other details you can provide. Everything helps! Make sure to also include location data, or it won't get pulled into our project.
4. If you know what you've observed, label it! Other iNaturalist users will confirm your ID, or suggest different ones. If you don't already know what you're looking at, label it as Plantae (plants) or Animalia (animals), and leave it to the iNaturalist community for help!
5. Any observation uploaded and tagged in the park boundary will automatically be added to this project. You can also follow our project to check out all uploaded observations, including your own!

In the future, we will be hosting interpretive programs and hikes to discuss more about citizen science and actually get out in the field to get some iNaturalist experience. Stay tuned for more information!

Do you have questions? Leave us a comment! Thanks for your help, fellow citizen scientists!

Posted on February 9, 2019 09:16 PM by khkartchner