Are you that friend or family member pointing out all of the invasive species on a casual walk along a trail or down the street?
Or, maybe your 2022 resolution was to learn more about the natural environment around you this year, but you’re not too sure where to start.
Wherever you are on your naturalist journey, we are looking for people who want to be LIFERs — LIISMA Invasive Finders and Early Reporters, that is. We are hoping to cultivate a community of folks who want to assist in looking for invasive species throughout the LIISMA region; not only to add knowledge to our existing database of invasive species, but to also connect like minded invasive species spotters to LIISMA and to each other.
If you are already an active iNaturalist user, you may already be involved in one of our other iNaturalist projects — passively contributing data on Tier 1 and 2 species, by documenting beech leaf disease, or uploading sightings of any invasive species found in our Invasive Species Prevention Zones (ISPZs). All of this data is extremely important to us and we thank you for being vigilant iNat-ers in the LIISMA region.
But here, within the LIFERs project, the LIISMA team is looking for something beyond invasive species — you!
Through our newsletter each month, we will have “LIFER Challenges” to look for specific species, or looking for a variety of species in specific places. In this way we can also learn more about the phenology of certain invasives, and their local abundances in priority areas.
To become a LIFER, all you need to do is create a free iNaturalist account. Then, on the iNaturalist website using a desktop browser, head to our LIFERs page and click the “Join” button in the upper right hand corner. Afterwards, stay up to date on LIFER activities – subscribe to LIISMA’s list-serv to receive our monthly newsletter, or head to our website each month for a new challenge.
This month as the kick off to our LIFERs program heading into February, we would like to continue our efforts in searching for hemlock trees (Tsuga canadensis) and hemlock wooly adelgid, or HWA (Adelges tsugae). If you haven’t already done so, check out this article from our November newsletter by our Field Project and Outreach Coordinator, Abby Bezrutczyk to learn about HWA and the collaborative effort taking place state-wide to manage this forest pest.
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