Local citizen scientists in international City Nature Challenge (CNC) report great success in the Fells
Friends of the Fells Board Member and Earthwise Aware President/Founder, Claire O’Neill (front row below, 2nd from right), reports that the recent CNC project (April 2019) supplied about 5% of all the Boston-area observations! [See LINK for details.] She writes:
“Our top collector, who attempted to record all the distinct species we observed during our events, came in 5th out of those with the most diverse records (out of over 1,087 observers)!
And, worldwide, our top observer landed our team in the 1% top observers of different species — over about 33,000 observers.”
CNC Citizen Scientists in the Fells
Together, Earthwise Aware — along with the Friends of the Fells — perform a critical function in a turmoiled time sandwiched between what’s now referred to as “Climate Breakdown” and the “Biodiversity Crisis” (see the United Nations’s global assessment of the species loss worldwide that was released 2 weeks ago, and announced about a million species at risk of extinction.
See: “Climate Breakdown is a Crisis” (Global Justice Now, November 2018)
See also: “U.N. Report – Humans Acceleration Extinction of Other Species”
So, to help fight these new ecological realities, Earthwise Aware (EwA) and the Friends of the Fells are engaging in local citizen science initiatives at the Fells focused on informing climate and biodiversity sciences.
Climate Change “First Responders”
We invite Fells lovers to participate, because:
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It’s empowering,
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It’s stewardship at a whole new level!
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It’s our kind of Citizen science — aka “co-creative” citizen science — because it goes beyond traditional citizen science boundaries.
Co-creative citizen science is a means for sharing skills, helping science, doing science together, democratizing science, and giving back science to the people, so that our stewardship here at the Fells is knowledge and science based, therefore built to last and more resilient to external pressures (political and others).
Plus, you get to discover beautiful local native species of flora and fauna and build a community of nature-lovers!
Read more about EwA Citizen Science Program at the Fells – https://www.earthwiseaware.org/ewa-at-the-fells/
See some of the diversity of species found in the Fells during EwA’s CNC project below:
Wild lowbush blueberry – Vaccinium angustifolium
White-throated sparrow – Zonotrichia albicollis
(Click here for more information and to hear birdsong – https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/white-throated-sparrow)
Round-lobed Hepatica – Anemone americana