My Experience Using iNaturalist.org

By Sarah Catching, TeenNat Intern

June 22, 2015

Sarah Catching leans in for a closeup photo

I love spiders. All other arthropods included, but mostly spiders. The only problem is most people don’t love spiders. It’s rare for me to find someone to talk to about spiders I used to just keep it all to myself, recording what I found and leaving it at that. That is, until I was introduced to iNaturalist.org during my TeenNat summer internship. I think the best way to describe my discovery of iNaturalist.org is as a window opening: I knew there must be other spider nerds out there like me, but I just didn’t know how to find them. iNaturalist.org is like social media for scientists and being someone who isn’t a scientist (yet) it is so cool to think that I have the opportunity to not only view the findings of professionals, but to also put my own discoveries out there. 

Uploading data to iNaturalist.org

During TeenNat we had the daily recordings that we would put up onto iNat and we all found ourselves with anywhere from 20 to over 500 entries at the end of August. It was so satisfying seeing my findings over the two months, ranging from beetles to lizards and, of course, spiders. It seemed like I was receiving almost daily notifications that someone had seen or identified  something of mine which was not only educational but also super exciting because what I was putting out was being seen. My only fear was that after TeenNat was over I would forget iNaturalist.org, that I would forget to put my entries in, and I would lose that connection with the iNaturalist.org community.

But, the thing is, I couldn’t forget iNaturalist.org and it certainly didn’t forget me. Every time I saw a bug I would race to find my little blue camera and my field guides. Of course, as life kept moving faster I found myself with less time to play outside looking for new creatures, although I still ran across the occasional house spider that I simply had to share with the rest of the world. Every spider is special and adorable to me and deserves recognition.

Spider photographed by Sarah Catching

So now,  here I am a year after my TeenNat experience, still logging entries into iNaturalist.org and going back to Pepperwoord whenever I am able. A part of my heart lives in Pepperwood, and being on iNaturalist.org is almost like being back with the rest of the group riding in the van to Turtle Pond, hiking up hills, counting Sword Ferns, and finding scorpions. iNaturalist.org is my connection to others who share my passion for spiders and insects, but more than that, it is my portal back to last summer. 

Sarah out on the preserve with field notebook

Another spider photographed by Sarah Catching

Community Highlight: Janet Anderson

Responses by Janet Anderson, Pepperwood Steward

How long have you been a Steward, Tracker, or Volunteer with Pepperwood?
I was in the first class of Bio 85 at SRJC in 2009-10. The curriculum had just been developed by UC,  and each week we were asked to evaluate the lesson. It was all fairly new to me so I gave each class the highest rating! I became a steward in 2010.

Tell us a little bit about your background and how you became interested in Pepperwood. What keeps you motivated?
I grew up in what is now Silicon Valley (Menlo Park), basically an urban environment, with Summer family vacations to the Northern California Redwoods where my father was born. I started hiking and backpacking only after my kids left for college.

Janet with some of her paintings.

I first came to Pepperwood for a landscape painting class through SRJC. I experienced the quiet beauty and open landscapes while painting for two weeks. On the last day, the class had an “art show” in the field at Bechtel House, and all the Pepperwood staff came, including Steve Barnhart, who announced the new Field Biology class at SRJC. I enrolled that Fall; every season since has deepened my understanding of field biology and ecology. 

What projects have you worked on?
When I started looking for a steward project, Michael G. asked me and a student volunteer to help him unpack some wildlife cameras and place them outside. Gradually we gained some expertise, and we invited various consultants to help us with strategies for capturing the wildlife we knew was always here. Pepperwood was already on a research track, and although this project was mainly a survey, we learned how to archive photos for a data base, along with keeping field notes. My current camera partner is Pam Horton.

Working in the herbarium.

I began working with fellow Bio 85 student Amber Huntington, also in Fall 2010, and she introduced me to the Herbarium and collecting and mounting plants for the new Pepperwood Flora. This is my fifth season, and we see definite evidence of climate change: fewer plants in bloom and a later, quicker season due to the dry January. 

Also I enjoy helping with the hikes and classes and meeting all the people who take part in Pepperwood activities.

What are three words that describe Pepperwood to you?
Cerulean Blue, Sap Green, Raw Sienna.

A completed pressing for the herbarium collection.

What does your experience at Pepperwood mean to you?
After I retired (from 30 years as a Speech Language Pathologist), or even before, I wondered what I would do. For awhile I took French and painting classes but I felt I was just wasting time. I even returned to work part-time. After two years as a Laguna Docent working with children, I discovered Pepperwood, and it was a perfect fit for me. I am always learning new things, making lasting friendships, and spending time in a most beautiful and inspiring environment.

What’s the most surprising thing you've learned or seen at Pepperwood?

Certainly the most exciting thing to me are the images we continue to capture with the wildlife cameras. I will never forget the first mountain lion, the first bear, and the cubs. And all the other little creatures who run in and out of view.

Janet with one of the wildlife cameras.

What’s the one thing you’d want to share with someone who is thinking about volunteering?
I don’t have a science background and I still stumble with terminology and identifications. But gradually I have learned so much about the natural world! Everyone with an interest in nature will find a project at Pepperwood.

What do you like to do in your spare time?

When I am not at Pepperwood, I paint, work in the garden, hike and exercise, spend time with my children and grandchildren (who all have been to Pepperwood); I am a beginning piano student and practice every day. If there is any spare time after that, I read.

 --- Interested in volunteering? Check our website for more information.

Pepperwood Cosponsors Santa Rosa Premiere of OR7 - The Journey

Join the Center for Biological Diversity, Sonoma Land Trust, Sonoma County Conservation Action and Pepperwood Preserve in celebrating the Santa Rosa premiere screening of the documentary OR7 - The Journey, an inspiring film about Oregon’s famous wandering gray wolf who even made his way into California.

The screening will take place at Summerfield Cinemas at 551 Summerfield Rd. in Santa Rosa on Wed. Aug. 26 at 7pm. 

UPDATE: The Wed. Aug. 26th screening is SOLD OUT but due to popular demand a second night showing has been added on Thu. Aug. 27th, also at 7pm. Tickets are $10.00 and can be purchased here.

OR7 - The Journey documents a remarkable wildlife success story that is taking shape in Oregon and the potential for regional recovery of wolves in the Pacific West. While Oregon's last wolf bounty was paid in 1947, wolves have begun to slowly rebound after they were granted protections under the federal Endangered Species Act in 1973. Oregon is once again home to a fragile, recovering population of gray wolves.

All of Oregon’s wolves resided in the northeast corner of the state until one male dispersed from his pack in 2011 and made history by becoming the first documented wolf west of the Cascades since 1947, and the first in California in nearly a century. In the process, he inspired people around the world and has become an ambassador for recovering native wildlife. That wolf was dubbed OR-7 by biologists and was given the name “Journey” by schoolchildren in a naming contest.

The film tells Journey’s story, not just as an adventure thousands of miles in the making, but representing the return of his species to their native habitats. It explores an awakening in how Americans view native wildlife and wild places, and the increasing conflict between 21st century science and values, and the old prejudices and politics that put the future of wolves - and OR-7 - in jeopardy.

Click the image to the left to watch the trailer. 

Come celebrate wolf recovery, wildlife, and OR-7's epic journey. A Q&A session will take place after the movie with filmmaker Clemens Schenk and Amaroq Weiss of the Center for Biological Diversity. Since California’s state wildlife agency will soon be releasing for public comment a draft state wolf plan, this film screening and opportunity to ask questions about wolf conservation could not be more timely.

 Click here to purchase tickets.

Summer Sleep: The Wonders of Aestivation

By Sandi Funke, Education Director

Newt at Pepperwood, photo by Joel Cervantes

When traveling in Spain over 20 years ago, I experienced some of the hottest driest days of my life. I remember sitting on a train swooning, feeling light-headed and wishing for more, much more water to drink. I also experienced Siesta - an almost mandated time lapse in the “busy-ness” of the day when folks take a break, close shops, and rest. As it was particularly hot during this trip, I really appreciated some time to sleep and wait for the sun to go down.

Imagine you are one of Pepperwood’s salamanders. As you may know, these amphibians need water to reproduce. They also need to keep their bodies moist. In addition, their food supplies may be low in the drier months. As summer arrives, places of moisture such as Pepperwood’s Turtle Pond and Double Ponds begin to dry up. How would you cope with California’s hot and dry summers?

Pacific chorus frog photographed by TeenNat intern Henry O'Donnell

Amphibians as well as many other animals undergo aestivation. Aestivation is a period of animal dormancy, similar to hibernation. It is characterized by inactivity in which animals lower their metabolism. Aestivation takes place during times of heat and dryness, the hot dry season, which in California is during the summer months. Animals that aestivate undergo very similar physiological changes as animals that hibernate. However, when conditions are right, aestivating animals can arouse more quickly than animals which hibernate.

So where do animals hide when they are aestivating? Well, it depends on the animal. Some creatures seek solace underground, often in burrows, other bury themselves in leaf litter and rubble. Some creatures even climb trees or man-made structures to hang on during the hot times of the year.

Newts aestivating under a rock, photo by Celeste Dodge

Several types of animals at Pepperwood aestivate. Last year Preserve Technician Celeste Dodge captured this incredible picture (left) of California Newts aestivating under a rock near turtle pond. Arboreal Salamanders commonly aestivate in the holes of large oaks especially, and are more tolerant of arid conditions than most amphibians. They adapt by curling their body and tightly coiling their tails! California Tiger Salamanders aestivate nine out of twelve months of the year. Turtles, salamanders, and frogs also avoid much movement during the hot summer months, as do some invertebrates including worms, snails, and even beetles. So as another California summer begins to embrace us with its wide, languid arms, maybe we should take a cue from the animals of Pepperwood? Relax and take time for a long nap!

An alligator lizard hides in leaf litter

Learn more about amphibians:

California Herps

AmphibiaWeb

Looking Under the Log - Dr. Vance Vredenburg on Amphibians

We're excited to host Dr. Vance Vredenburg of San Francisco State University for our next Discover Nature lecture on Amphibians!

Amphibians, Amphibian Decline, and Restoration
Friday, August 14, 2015 
7pm lecture, no reservations necessary
$10 suggested donation, students free
Click here for more info.

We hope to see you there! 

---------------------------------

Dr. Vance Vredenburg

Looking Under the Log
Dr. Vredenburg Researches Frogs, Newts, and Salamanders with an Eye Towards Conservation

Responses by Dr. Vance Vredenburg

1) What got you interested in amphibians in the first place?  
I wanted to conduct research on a group of animals where I felt I could have conservation impact. They are so threatened that it seemed to make sense. I also wanted to work in a system where I could directly handle the animals (mammals and birds were out!) and I’ve always been fascinated by amphibians.

All three species of California's newts are found
at Pepperwood! Photo taken at Pepperwood by
Ken-ichi Ueda of iNaturalist.org

2) Your work seems to span the globe. How are challenges to amphibians in Northern California similar or different than the challenges face in other regions? 
In many ways they are similar. A pandemic disease is affecting amphibians in similar ways in Northern California, Chile, Spain, China, and even Palau and humans are the cause of the pandemic. 

3) Can you tell us a little about AmphibiaWeb? What prompted you to start this on-line web portal? 
AmphibiaWeb is an online amphibian conservation portal. I started it with David Wake (a professor at UC Berkeley) when I was a graduate student back in 1998. It was created and is maintained by volunteers interested in saving the world’s amphibians. It provides information (e.g. conservation status, photos, range maps, etc.) on every known species of amphibian and gets over 7.3 million successful queries per year.

Newt photographed by 2014 TeenNat intern Mario Balitbit.

4) What can average community members do to help promote the survival of amphibian species? 
Become educated about the species that live in our natural world, sometimes even in our front yards (e.g. California slender salamanders are the most common amphibian in California), help spread the word that releasing amphibians purchased in the pet trade should never be done, and become involved in a conservation organization. 

---------------------------------
Dr. Vredenburg was raised in Mexico and the United States. His scientific training began as an undergraduate at the University of California Santa Barbara where he worked on ecological research projects in coastal California, Alaska, the Caribbean, and Antarctica. His current research focuses on the ecology, evolution and conservation of amphibians including the ecology of emerging infectious amphibian disease, the role of the skin microbiome in health and disease, and the role of climate change and behavior on disease dynamics. Dr. Vredenburg the co-founder of AmphibiaWeb an online conservation resource for the world’s amphibians. His research seeks to understand how some populations of frogs survive epidemics. Dr. Vredenburg is a research associate at the California Academy of Sciences and will be presenting on the conservation and threats to native amphibians. Learn more at the Vredenburg Lab website.

One Year After TeenNat

By Allie Ahern, TeenNat Intern

Allie examines a specimen near Pepperwood's Double Ponds.

It’s strange for me to think that, as the month of July approaches, it will have been almost exactly a year since the day I started my internship at Pepperwood Preserve. It feels as if no time has passed at all. I can easily imagine it was only yesterday that I was making an observation, finding GPS coordinates, and uploading my photographs onto iNaturalist.com. It’s also extremely strange for me to think that I’ll soon be entering my senior year in high school and that, in a few brief months, I will need to make a larger decision than I’ve made in all my life: to choose the area of study that I will supposedly pursue for a lifelong career, and which university I will go to to study it.

Luckily, my experience in TeenNat has made that choice a little bit easier for me.

Allie (right) and other TeenNat interns at Pepperwood.

Before the internship, I did have a genuine interest in science and nature. In my freshman year biology class I had taken part in the UC Davis CAMEOS (Coastal, Atmospheric, & Marine Environmental Observing Studies) program, collaborating with classmates to design and implement our own experiment. (Ours, interestingly enough, was on cyanobacteria. It kind of worked out). 

Photo by Allie Ahern.

For four years, I had been on my schools’ running teams, and training runs took me up and down the beautiful trails of Annadel State Park. While I was running I not only got to be surrounded by nature, but enjoyed feeling as if I was part of it. My love for the outdoors is ultimately what drew me to the TeenNat program.

         

A whole new world of investigative science was opened to me at Pepperwood. We were told that even the tiniest observations were significant. Nobody thought it was the slightest bit strange for Celeste (Pepperwood's Preserve Technician) and I to be crouched on the ground for ten minutes, observing and intensely discussing an insect the size of my fingernail. I realized then that I couldn’t move on from a learning experience unless I felt my understanding was full and complete. 

Western Fence Lizard, photo by Allie Ahern.

Whenever I go on hikes or runs now, I’m usually in the back. Chances are something has caught my eye, like an intricately patterned moth, or perhaps a plant that doesn’t look quite like the others. Usually I end up asking, why? Does the pattern serve as camouflage? Has the plant succumbed to a disease? I am now much more observant of my natural surroundings, and more conscious as to how my presence is affecting them. Conscious enough that I’m seriously considering Environmental or Earth Science as my choice for a major in college. The work that we did during TeenNat, in making observations and in following experimental procedure, gave me a taste of what a career in these fields would be like. I absolutely loved it, and because I cherish the beauty, complexity, and bounty of nature, I feel as if I must pay it back for all it’s given me.

Manzanita gal with aphids, photo by Allie Ahern.

Additionally, TeenNat has left me feeling a whole lot more prepared for the “real world.” From meeting up with professionals in science careers to emailing back and forth with TeenNat leaders, I got a better understanding of what it means to “network.” Our leaders shared their personal experiences, both educational and professional, and now I realize that success doesn’t have to mean a straight-shot to college and a career. Paths can meander. I can pursue internships, do volunteer work, or maybe even take a year off for travel. So, not only did I learn skills valuable to my future, I am more confident in my own abilities and in myself. I can’t wait to see what comes next!

---

Click here to learn more about Pepperwood's TeenNat program.

Community Highlight - Wendy Herniman

Responses by Wendy Herniman, Pepperwood Steward

Wendy (right) helping with the initial planting of
the Demonstration Garden.

How long have you been a Steward, Tracker, or Volunteer with Pepperwood?
I started volunteering about four years ago and then became a steward last summer, after going through the Bio-85 program at SRJC and becoming a California Naturalist.

Tell us a little bit about your background and how you became interested in Pepperwood. What keeps you motivated?
I grew up in the New Forest in England, so my backyard as a child was an ancient 1000-year old forest where the local ponies and donkeys had free rein to wander wherever they liked. There wasn't a lot else to do other than spend time in the woods, heathland and streams, so I became very comfortable outdoors and a love of nature and a desire to take care of the environment grew from that. As a teenager I became a member of the British Trust for Conservation Volunteers and spent my summers restoring wetland habitats and scrub-bashing (removing invasive species) near Stonehenge. I then went to college and majored in biology, but meandered into healthcare rather than my favoured field of ecology. A few years have passed since then, bringing me to Sonoma County. Luckily, I discovered Pepperwood in 2011 when I brought my son, Peter, up here for a field trip for a summer SRJC class; as soon as I arrived, I decided that I needed to spend as much time as I could at the preserve. Every time I drive through the Pepperwood gate, I'm reminded of why I made that decision. 

One of the oaks Wendy monitors as part of the
Phenology Project. (Photo by Wendy Herniman)
     

What projects have you worked on?
I enjoy helping with the community events like the lectures, classes, hikes, gallery exhibits and the wildflower festivals. The volunteer workdays have given me the opportunity to help with the creation of the demonstration garden and the gathering ground. I've also been involved with the Phenology Project for almost two years now, where a group of stewards and trackers monitors plants twice weekly to see which life cycle stages they are exhibiting, such as leafing out, flowering, producing seeds, etc. My favorite part of the Phenology Project has been the group of oaks which I have been monitoring for the last year. I have learnt so much about these plants, and oaks in particular, through doing this project. I've also helped with the fieldwork for other climate change projects like the Terrestrial Biodiversity Climate Change Collaborative (TBC3)'s 50 woodland plots, some of which are located in the less-visited parts of the preserve, giving me a great opportunity to explore Pepperwood in more depth.

What are three words that describe Pepperwood to you?
Biodiversity, community, balance.

What does your experience at Pepperwood mean to you?
Being surrounded by the gorgeous Northern California landscape, with the grasslands, oak woodlands, and the redwoods, puts everything in perspective for me and brings balance to my life. Additionally, I really appreciate the community which the preserve attracts, the staff, the scientists, volunteers, and visitors, who all seem to value the landscape and care about protecting the environment. It's been especially rewarding that my sons have found a good niche here, too, with Sam spending a wonderful summer here as an intern and going on to study ecology, and Peter thoroughly enjoying the first TeenNat program.

Wendy in the field at a Volunteer Workday.

What’s the most surprising thing you've learned or seen at Pepperwood?
I was surprised to discover that I was brave enough to hold a snake during a Bio-85 reptiles and amphibians class. It was only a little gopher snake, but that was pretty amazing. One of the most beautiful things I've seen was a huge King Snake stretched out across the trail.

What’s the one thing you’d want to share with someone who is thinking about volunteering?
There's something for everyone here, whether they want to enjoy the outdoors, work on a computer or at public events, take part in science projects, learn more about plants or animals, tend a garden, pull out invasive plants or even love to cook, and the community is so welcoming.

What do you like to do in your spare time?
I like to spend time with family and friends, as well as enjoying all that Sonoma County has to offer, such as hiking, art, local good food and wine, and traveling further afield to Yosemite and the UK when I get the chance.

 --- Interested in volunteering? Check our website for more information.