Citizen Science
The Jenner Wood V Citizen Science Program
The citizen science program at Catawba Lands Conservancy (CLC) seeks to inspire children and adults to explore the outdoors and connect with nature, all while contributing meaningful scientific observations to CLC and scientists around the world. Citizen and community-based science is important because it empowers communities to engage in science and research, enhances data collection, and supports conservation efforts.
Scroll down to learn about citizen science projects you can participate in on our preserves, or even in your own backyard!
ecoEXPLORE ecoEXPLORE is an incentive-based community science project for children K-8 started by the North Carolina Arboretum. We currently have 4 HotSpot locations at Buffalo Creek Preserve Trail, Duke Kimbrell Trail, Eastover Ridge Preserve, and Forney Creek Trail where kids can make observations and start earning prizes for exploring the outdoors!
Chronolog Chronolog is a citizen science tool that allows people to track various landscape changes by simply taking a photograph. CLC currently has a Chronolog photo station on Buffalo Creek Trail to track the success of prescribed fire in restoring a once residential clear-cut to a beautiful pine-oak savanna! Check out our Chronolog dashboard to learn more.
iNaturalist Use the iNaturalist app or website to upload your plant and wildlife observations from our publicly accessible properties to help us better understand their biodiversity. You can join and tag your observations to our current projects for Buffalo Creek Preserve Trail and the Duke Kimbrell Trail.
eBird eBird is one of the largest biodiversity-related citizen science projects in the world. With the ‘checklist’ tool, eBird users can track their bird sightings easily. By uploading bird observations made on our public properties to eBird, you can help CLC and scientists worldwide track bird populations, migration, abundance, habitat use, and more! CLC has eBird hotspots at all our publicly accessible preserves and trails including Buffalo Creek Preserve Trail, Forney Creek Trail, Eastover Ridge Preserve/Briar Creek Greenway, Duke Kimbrell Trail (formerly Seven Oaks Preserve Trail), Goat Island, South Fork Rail Trail, Pharr Family Preserve Trail, Pharr Yarns Family Trail.
Catawba Lands Conservancy’s Citizen Science program is named in memory of Edward Jenner Wood V, 2019-2023.Jenner loved nature. He was learning how to sort the sounds of various songbirds and to delight in the stars and how the planets move. He loved teaching his baby brother Howell everything he knew. The curiosity and love of nature that Jenner possessed is the embodiment of our citizen science program.
