Video Content
00:00: Using Citizen Science Observations to Develop Managed Area Watch Lists
Speaker: Dr. Bruce Young, Chief Scientist, Nature Serve
Bruce Young is NatureServe’s Chief Scientist. He has 30 years of experience promoting plant and animal conservation through the development of conservation status assessments, guidance for natural resources managers, and biodiversity indicator platforms. As a major collaborator to the Global Amphibian, Mammal, and Reptile Assessments, Dr. Young has helped mobilize conservation efforts for these groups. His leadership in the development of the NatureServe Climate Change Vulnerability Index has fostered new insights on how climate change is affecting species.
Using Citizen Science Observations to Develop Managed Area Watch Lists
Invasive species are a major threat to natural ecosystems. To combat the destructive potential of arriving invasive species, many natural resource managers have adopted an ‘early detection and rapid response’ (EDRR) strategy. A key component of EDRR is a ‘watch list’ of invasive species that have yet to be detected in a managed area and are prioritized for surveillance, reporting, and other responses. However, managed areas with limited resources may not have the capacity to develop useful watch lists. To address this need, we developed an automated process to use data from iNaturalist, a popular citizen science platform, and a U.S. national list of nonnative plant species to compile a provisional watch list of the 100 most frequently reported nonnative species within a 160-km buffer around a managed area. Using Fort Vancouver National Historic Site, Washington, as an example, we show how provisional watch lists can be refined by removing species that are unlikely to occur in the unit due to the absence of suitable habitat and prioritizing species from the state priority invasive plant list. The automated process has the advantage of being easily repeatable at regular intervals to alert managers of newly arrived species.
19:48: The Invading Species Awareness Program’s Hit Squad Program: How Collaboration and Partnerships have Contributed Towards Invasive Species Education, Awareness, and Monitoring Initiatives in Ontario.
Speaker: Brook Schryer, Program Advisor, Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters
Brook Schryer is the Program Advisor with the Invading Species Awareness Program (ISAP) out of the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters (OFAH). In his eight years with the program, his work has focused on aquatic invasive species, including outreach and education, surveillance and monitoring, as well as tracking initiatives.
The Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters’ (OFAH) Invading Species Awareness Program (ISAP) has been delivering educational programming on invasive species through a partnership with the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) since 1992. Over the last 33 years, the program has focused on education and outreach, addressing key pathways of spread for invasive species, and facilitating monitoring and surveillance. For more than 15 years, the ISAP has partnered with organizations across the province to hire over 20 Hit Squad summer staff annually. These staff are housed out of our partner organizations and spread education and outreach to bait retailers, marinas, garden centres, local special interest groups, amongst many others. They hand out educational resources, install signage, such as Clean, Drain, Dry signs, and always look for other opportunities to engage their local communities.
37:04: Grow Me Instead: Promoting Invasive-free Gardening Across Ontario
Speaker: Vicki Simkovic, Program Coordinator, OIPC
Vicki joins the OIPC with a strong background in ecology, invasive species, and restoration. Prior to OIPC she gained fieldwork experience in invasive species management through her role as a Field Assistant with the Upper Thames River Conservation Authority and a Conservation Technician with the Nature Conservancy of Canada. She also obtained her Master of Science in Ecology and Evolution at the University of Western, where she studied the behaviour and genetics of an invasive termite species.
Grow Me Instead: Promoting Invasive-free Gardening Across Ontario
Each year many new plants species are introduced for use in the horticulture trade due to low maintenance requirements and often, beautiful, showy flowers. Many of these species can become very problematic because they can escape gardens and enter natural areas where they outcompete native plants, lower biodiversity and can become extremely costly to remove. The OIPC's Grow Me Instead Guide, created by the Horticulture Outreach Collaborative, was created to assist gardeners in making informed decisions about the plants that they are buying for their gardens, helping to educate and avoid the use of invasive plants.