From March to June of 2025, The 300 Committee Land Trust will be hosting a new volunteer program called Biodiversity Ambassadors. This program was created by one of this year’s TerraCorps members, Grace Vachon.
What Does a Biodiversity Ambassador Do?
Biodiversity Ambassadors will use iNaturalist, a software program for identifying wildlife, to complete a series of monthly challenges at properties owned and managed by The 300 Committee. These challenges will entail locating and identifying different species of plants, animals, and fungi. Each one will be held at a specific property, and the challenge can only be completed at that property.
Participants can either complete the challenge on their own time and/or during our monthly meet ups. Our main goal for hosting this program is to engage the community and get people out on our trails. We are also hoping to learn more about biodiversity on our properties. After the completion of each challenge, Grace will write a species profile on a few of the organisms that were identified, so stay tuned!
Monthly Meetups
Twice a month on Mondays and Sundays from 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., Grace will host program meet ups. These meet ups will provide an opportunity for program participants to get together with one another and 300 Committee staff to work on the monthly challenge. Staff will be available to answer any questions about iNaturalist or the program. If you are interested in attending any of the meet ups, please use the link below to sign up. Meet Ups will be canceled in the event of rain or if no one signs up. Parking information for each meet up is given in the challenge descriptions at the bottom of the page.
iNaturalist Training
On April 1st from 1:00 3:00 p.m., Grace will host an in-person iNaturalist training for those who may be new to the software. Part of the training will involve hands-on practice with the app outside, so please bring your phone and have iNaturalist downloaded on it. The first portion of the training will be held at the 300 Committee headquarters, located at 13 Thomas B Landers Road. Weather permitting, the group will then travel to a nearby conservation land to practice using the app. Registration is encouraged. Email Grace to register at stewardshipcoordinator@300committee.org.
Important Dates
June 1: June monthly challenge opens (Plants)
June 8: 7th Monthly Meet Up at Beebe Woods Hiker's Lot (By the Highfield Theater)
June 16: 8th Monthly Meet Up at Peterson Farm
How Do I Get Involved With the Program?
- Download iNaturalist on your mobile device.
- Create an iNaturalist account if you don’t have one already. Please note that you will need a valid email address to create an iNaturalist account.
- Email Grace your iNaturalist username so we know who is who. In your email, please include your full name, your username on iNaturalist, your intent to participate, and if it is okay for us to post any images you take to the website. Please send to stewardshipcoordinator@300committee.org. Please do this even if you already have an iNaturalist account.
- Read the user guide (linked below).
- Join the umbrella project page on iNaturalist. Please join this project before joining any of the individual challenges.
- Scroll down on the umbrella project page to access and join the monthly challenges.
- Use iNaturalist to complete each challenge at the specified property. Please complete the challenge between the first and last day of the month.
- Optional – attend the monthly meetups (see dates and locations below)
- Optional – attend the in-person iNaturalist training on April 1st
Challenge Descriptions
June
This Challenge is now closed. Thank you to those who contributed to this project!
Here is What We Found:
March: Fungi, Lichen, and Moss
- Observations: 69
- Species: 28
April: Insects and Spiders
- Observations: 50
- Species: 36
May: Birds
- Observations: 36*
- Species: 33
June: Plants
- Observations: 34
- Species: 27
* Includes observations recorded with Merlin and EBird that could not be uploaded to iNaturalist.
Check out this spreadsheet which shows all the different species observed over the course of the program:
Species Profiles
June: Plants
Photo by Lisa Kane
In June, volunteers collected 34 observations of 27 species of plants in Beebe Woods. Read more about one of the invasives identified below.
First of all, what is an invasive plant? An invasive plant is any non-native plant that is destructive to an ecosystem. They take over large amounts of space, outcompeting native species and reducing biodiversity. Japanese barberry is one such invasive shrub. Native to Asia, Japanese barberry was brought over as an ornamental but eventually spread and became invasive. According to iNaturalist, the proliferation of Japanese barberry has lead to species loss, soil changes, and increases in tick habitat. Although they are destructive, Japanese barberry sports bright, red berries in the follow and small, yellow flowers in spring. They have thorns, so watch out if you get near one!.
May: Birds
Photo by Alex Kinsella
During the month of May, volunteers used a variety of software programs including iNaturalist, ebird, and Merlin to collect 36 observations of 33 species by both sight and sound. Unfortunately, not all of these could be uploaded to iNaturalist due to the difficulty of uploading sound files and a lack of original photographs. However, these observations were stilled included in the final count. Birds are more often heard than seen!
As their name suggests, gray catbirds have round gray bodies often with a black patch on top of their heads. Look and listen for them in dense, shrubby thickets where they feed on fruits and insects. They also have a distinctive call that sounds like a cat mewing. They are relatives of mockingbirds, and will imitate other bird calls.
April: Creepy Crawlies
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- Photo by Jake McCumber
During the month of April we collected 50 observations and identified 36 species of creepy crawlies! Thank you to everyone who participated!
One particularly interesting species observed this month was the twelve-spotted tiger beetle. Twelve-spotted tiger beetles are about 12-15 millimeters long and dark brown in color. They get their name from the twelve spots on their bodies, and prefer habitats with sandy soils near wetland areas. They are listed as threatened in Massachusetts due to threats such as flooding, stream bank erosion, insecticides, invasive plant species, off-road vehicles, and water pollution.
You can read more about twelve-spotted tiger beetles and their conservation status here: https://www.mass.gov/info-details/twelve-spotted-tiger-beetle
March: Fungi, Lichen, and Moss
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- Photo by Alex Kinsella
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- Photo by Will Clarke
During the month of March we collected 64 observations and identified 28 species of fungi, lichen, and moss! Thank you to everyone who participated!
This species profile will focus lichen. What is a lichen? Although some lichen may look like plants, they are actually a composite of two organisms, usually a fungus and an algae or cyanobacteria. The partnership between the fungus and other organism is symbiotic, meaning that they both benefit from it. Some common species that you are likely to see on the Cape include Bushy Beard Lichen and Common Greenshield Lichen.
Resources
- Access to Umbrella Project Page
- iNaturalist PowerPoint Presentation: Introduction to iNaturalist Presentation.pdf
- Biodiversity Ambassadors Program Guide.pdf
- iNaturalist Support Page
Contact
- Please send any inquiries to Grace at stewardshipcoordinator@300committee.org.