Usery Mountain Recreation Area's Journal

Once again, we are going to have have an excellent display of spring wildflowers! As you explore the park and take photos of the colorful blooms that you see, please post your sightings to iNaturalist. (Thank you to those of you who have already started!)

By doing so, you will help in documenting the variety of species being seen in the Usery Mountain Recreation Area this year, along with where and when. This helps others know which areas of the park are currently putting on a show! This data is also extremely valuable in long-term monitoring efforts to determine if drought, wildfires, and changes to climate conditions have an affect on the survival and life cycle timing of plant species in the area.

I am happy to report that our project is going strong and has recently reached a few significant milestones.

First, this project has now accounted for 200+ species seen within Usery Mountain Recreation Area! This includes over 100 different plants, 39 birds, 24 insects, 13 reptiles, and 8 mammals.
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/flora-fauna-of-usery-mountain-recreation-area?tab=stats

We've also had over 50 different people contribute observations to the project. It is great to have so many visitors sharing what they saw during their desert excursions, past and present. If you are one of our observers, THANK YOU! Your observations help in documenting and showcasing the variety of wildlife in the Usery area.

Learn more about our project during a brown bag lunch presentation at Usery's Nature Center on Wednesday, March 6th at noon.

While exploring nature, we've all wondered "What is that?" and told someone "You gotta see this!" By taking photos of plants and animals while exploring the Usery Mountain Recreation Area, you can share your interesting sightings with others and learn more about what you saw. Your observations also become part of our iNaturalist citizen science project to help us better understand and protect the park's incredible wildlife.

During Wednesday's program, participants will learn how to submit observations into iNaturalist and discover how our project is being used by the park. Please bring your own smartphone or digital camera, if you have one, as well as closed-toe shoes for the optional outdoor portion of the program.

This season is already shaping up to have an excellent display of wildflowers! When you venture off into the park and take photos of the beautiful flowers that you see, please post them to iNaturalist.

By doing so, you will help in documenting the variety of species being seen in the Usery Mountain Recreation Area this year, along with where and when. This information could prove to be extremely important in the future to determine if changes in drought and climate conditions are affecting the life cycle timing and survival of plant species in our area.

On Sunday, Jan 13, our project will be one of several local projects featured during a presentation by the Arizona Native Plant Society-Phoenix Chapter, entitled "iNaturalist in the Valley." This presentation is free and open to the public. If you're available, come and learn more about iNaturalist and the ways it is being used at Usery and other locations in the Phoenix area!

For full event details, visit: https://www.facebook.com/events/677557489283783/

Our project has reached an exciting milestone… iNaturalist observers have now documented at least 100 different wildlife species within the Usery Mountain Recreation Area!

More than half of the species documented are plants, which comes as no surprise because these are the easiest organisms to photograph. We've also documented 15 species of birds, 11 reptiles, 6 insects, 5 mammals, and 2 arachnids. You can learn more here:
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/flora-fauna-of-usery-mountain-recreation-area?tab=stats

There still are plenty more species to be documented, so I’m creating a lofty goal of increasing our species count to 119 by the start of the new year. If you've seen a species that is not yet included in our project, please add your observation to help our species list grow. For a full list of all of the species included in our project thus far, see:
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/flora-fauna-of-usery-mountain-recreation-area?tab=species

Thank you to everyone who has contributed wildlife sightings to our project to help us reach this first big milestone!

Join us for an interactive program at Usery's Nature Center on Saturday, Nov 10th at 2:00 p.m.

By taking photos of plants and animals while exploring the Usery Mountain Recreation Area, your sightings can become part of our iNaturalist citizen science project to help us better understand and protect the park's incredible wildlife.

At Saturday's program, participants will learn about this project and how to submit observations into iNaturalist. Please bring your own smartphone or digital camera, if you have one, as well as closed-toe shoes for the outdoor portion of the class.

To better inform park management and increase our knowledge local wildlife, this Flora & Fauna of Usery Mountain Recreation Area project was created by me (a local biological science graduate student) and the managers of Usery Mountain Regional Park. We invite all visitors to upload photos of plants and animals seen within the area.

Here's how to participate:

1. Register as an iNaturalist observer by downloading their free mobile app or visiting their website at iNaturalist.org.
2. Review iNaturalist’s user guidelines and FAQs at https://www.inaturalist.org/pages/help.
3. Take photos of the plants and animals that you see while on our trails, being sure to abide by park rules.
4. Upload your photos to iNaturalist. Include the date/time and pinpoint the location where you saw each plant or animal. Also include a comment with the trail name, if known.
5. Label each observation as plants (Plantae) or animals (Animalia), or identify the exact name or type of species (if known). Other iNaturalist users will also help to identify your observations.
6. Your observations will automatically be added to our Flora & Fauna of Usery Mountain Recreation Area project. View or "follow" our project page to see all of the observations made in the park, including yours!

A flyer with these instructions will be made available in the Usery Mountain Regional Park Nature Center. Also, this project will be featured during the Introduction to Citizen Science program taking place in the Nature Center on May 24, 2018 at 9:30 AM and June 23, 2018 at 10:00 AM. I hope to see you then!