Citizen Science

Engage with the LSWC Through Citizen Science!

The LSWC will be promoting citizen science initiatives like this in the coming months, so get familiar with these apps now and get a head start on mapping your sightings!

	iNaturalist is a database for citizen scientists to record sightings and help contribute to science. Create a free account and access sightings from around the world! You can also use it to help identify species using the community's knowledge base and experience to identify species! Check out the sightings already recorded for the Lesser Slave Watershed region here! Help us build our database by adding your sightings!
Project FeederWatch	Create an account here and start inputting data today! The project helps collect bird data all year to help scientists track migration patterns and bird population abundance! Are you an avid bird watcher? Interested in birding? Check out the Cornell Lab's Project FeederWatch website. This is an excellent way to get into birding and share sightings to influence scientific discoveries! And the best part? You can participate in this citizen science initiative from your own yard! Just watch your bird feeder and snap pictures to gather quality data for the birding database! It is quick, easy and convenient!
Alberta Bat Program	Report a bat sighting or roost to help provide much needed data to monitor and better understand bats in Alberta! Learn more about the Project here. There are two ways that you can participate in this program! You can either report a roost or report a bat sighting! For the best data, try to record a location, time of day, how many individuals you found, anything unusual about the sighting, and even a clear image of the sighting!
	Past reporting efforts have assisted in better understanding grizzly bear presence and helped to inform the locations of hair snag monitoring sites, used to identify individual grizzly bears through genetic analysis of individual hair samples. https://www.grizztracker.ca/
	LakeWatch is a volunteer-based water monitoring program offered to Albertans who are interested in collecting information about their local lake or reservoir. https://alms.ca/
Chronolog	Chronolog is used by organizations worldwide to create crowd-sourced timelapses that monitor the environment and engage communities in science. https://www.chronolog.io/
	We need your help reporting wildlife sightings along major highways in the Northern Sagebrush Steppe (NSS) transboundary region, which include the sagebrush and grassland ecosystems Alberta, Saskatchewan and Montana to help improve wildlife and human safety. https://pronghornxing.org/about.php
	eBird transforms the global birding community's passion for birds into a powerful resource for research, conservation, and education. https://ebird.org/home
	Check out the local volunteer opportunities at the Lesser Slave Lake Bird Observatory! Sign up for seasonal bird banding! https://www.lslbo.org/
	The Alberta Native Bee Council launched a citizen science bumble bee box monitoring program. Similar to bird houses, bumble bees may or may not colonize a bumble bee nest box. https://www.albertanativebeecouncil.ca/bumble-bee-box-monitoring
	Volunteers are encouraged to submit location information on amphibian observations and are supplied with species ID and support materials online. Participants in the program can submit their amphibian and reptile observations, including photos, online through an electronic data entry form. https://www.alberta.ca/alberta-volunteer-amphibian-monitoring-program