The Cayucos Land Conservancy is looking for “citizen scientists,” to document the plants and animals at the
Estero Bluffs State Park
Are you itching to let loose your inner “Bill Nye — the Science Guy?” Cayucos Land Conservancy may have a program to fill up your test tube.
CLC is looking for “citizen scientists,” to document the plants and animals at the Estero Bluffs State Park, the coastal bluff top adjacent to Hwy 1 north of Cayucos proper.
Estero Bluffs was the first-ever conservation project by the CLC back in the 1990s. Property owners had proposed a large subdivision for the coastal bluff and the community rose up in opposition, forming CLC and stopping the project.
They were able to pull together the money to buy the property, and donated it to the State Parks Department. It remains open space and a natural area open to the public but has no amenities like a restroom or drinking water.
CLC is working through the www.iNaturalist.org website to sign up volunteers. The program is easy and informal as well.
Simply download the iNaturalist app onto your smart phone. Then whenever you head out to the bluffs, take pictures with your phone of animals and plants that you encounter.
Then upload your photos to the website entering the approximate geographic location and even try your best to ID the plant or animal. It’s all very easy with the app.
“Once you have completed your entry, the community at iNaturalist confirms, or suggests, other identifications right down to the species level,” CLC said in a news release. Your photos, and location data will then become part of an international survey of living creatures.
Participants will help determine a species’ geographic distribution and population, monitor ecosystem health and most importantly, allow CLC to create a list of animals and plants found at Estero Bluffs State Park.
CLC’s Tom Seville is leading this program, contact him at: tseville71@gmail.com. He’ll want your user name (from the app), to track entries and build a list of species found at Estero Bluffs.
According to CLC, once the Coronavirus orders are lifted, they plant to resume docent led walks on the bluffs. See: www.cayucoslandconservancy.org for information on the Cayucos Land Conservancy’s newest conservation efforts.
