At our meeting on Wed. June 7, Lou Skinner, a volunteer with the Gabriola Land and Trails Trust (GaLTT), will be introducing our club to the iNaturalist app – a preview of a more in-depth, in-person workshop that GALTT will be offering later that month.

In addition to creating and maintaining trails on Gabriola, GaLTT also carries out conservation education and works to conserve areas of ecological interest on the island. One of GALTTS’ key initiatives is a campaign encouraging people to conserve native habitat and plant native species on their properties. For many people, that raises the question: what are native plants and animals?

In June GALTT will be offering an in-person workshop for the community on using the free app, iNaturalist, to help people identify the plants and animals around us. Through using the app, people can not only identify native species, but also have the opportunity to share their observations – thereby helping to build a research-grade database of biodiversity on Gabriola.

Most members of Gabriola Photography Club already have a deep connection with nature through our photography, and Lou says she expects we are good observers – so could be a huge help in creating this biodiversity knowledge.