Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies’Wildlife Viewing and Nature Tourism Working Group2016 Webinar Series
Texas Nature Trackers Program
October 11, 2016
Noon – 1:00 p.m. EDT
Description: The Texas Nature Trackers Program is
using iNaturalist to engage the naturalist community and to help document the
persistence of species on the landscape in Texas. In less than four years we
have compiled over 85,000 observations of plants and animals. Our top data
priority is to detect populations of Target Species to support research and conservation
efforts by the Wildlife Diversity Program at Texas Parks and Wildlife. Our
outreach efforts are intended to enrich the experience of naturalists in three
ways; achievement, knowledge, and impact. At its heart, iNaturalist is a
community-driven platform where the interactions between observers help sustain
the engagement of observers. Each observation requires validation from the
community to become “research grade.” This validation provides positive and
educational feedback on species identification for the observer. Texas Nature
Trackers also promotes challenges, such as the Herps of Texas Big Year, or the
Spring Turtle Challenge. We hope to improve the structure of these challenges
to promote a greater conservation awareness, and to focus the attention of the
community on data gaps and research priorities. We believe that a well-designed
engagement strategy will simultaneously increase the value of the data and
enrich the experience of the observer.
Presenter: Cullen Hanks, Texas Nature Tracker
Biologist in the Wildlife Diversity Program at Texas Parks and Wildlife.
Connection: Join the webinar at fwc.adobeconnect.com/wildlifeviewing
(sign in as guest, with first and last name; no password required).
Conference call audio: 888-670-3525
Participant code: 835-369-4269
