Imperfect FunGal

As many of you guys know, I have taken over the 2026 training class for the Lost Pines Master Naturalists with my Partner in crime Anna.  What you all may not know is that making sure that we are providing real, meaningful, content means listening to a lot of webinars, reading a lot of articles, spending a lot of time at the library, and going on a lot of field trips.  I can almost hear everyone groan with pity for me.  However, it is also a very eye-opening experience where, every now and then, you see something in an entirely new way.  

Enter a book called “Chasing Bats and Tracking Rats” by Cylita Guy.  I got this book from the Austin Public Library when I was looking for kids books about Urban Ecology.  First off, this book is amazing and blends Urban Ecology, STEM career opportunities, and experiments that everyone can do wherever they might live.  That being said, it’s also a great book for adults looking for a deeper understanding of the world around them, and a provides a great way to explain ecology concepts to kids and other adults.  But that was not the life-changing piece. 

One of the chapters in the book discussed nature bias.  It was a completely different way to see the role people play in survival of the fittest.  We live in a time where citizen science is taking off.  Applications like iNaturalist, Seek, Merlin, eBird, and countless other apps help us to log sightings of everything from mushrooms to ring-tailed cats.  I have been an addict for the last year since I learned about iNaturalist. (full disclosure I am currently in their ambassador program) I mean an app that allows me to not feel guilty about taking too many pictures on hikes, or spending too much time trying to learn the difference between a queen butterfly and a monarch.   

However, enter this book and a discussion on how these apps are full of data gaps where sightings in areas of prosperity grossly outweigh sightings in less prosperous areas.  Because of this, we have an incomplete picture of the populations of flora and fauna in these areas.  I’ll get to the endgame.  Not only are many of the funds for parks, pollinator gardens, and nature programs skewed towards the wealthier areas, but this also means that protections for plants and animals are also skewed towards these wealthy areas based on reporting done by cities, counties and states based on the citizen science data.  

Why Is It Important?

If we look at this in a very simplistic way, you have area A and area B.  Let’s pretend they have identical plants, animals, and birds living in the areas.  Area A is a wealthier district and has a beautiful new park and birding club, Area B does not.  The birding club has weekly meet-ups and reports all the birds they find in eBird and iNaturalist.  Through this app, the birding group finds out that there is a rare bird that migrates through the area, and applies for funds to build a bird blind in their park.  When the city looks at the data of where the migrating bird is, based on the apps it looks like it is only in Area A, because that’s where it was reported.  So the funds go to area A to build the bird blind, where it might be more impactful for area B to have a park similar to the one that’s already in area A.  Now remember, the flora and fauna in area A and B are the same.  Had there been people in area B reporting that the bird was there, the funds may have been allocated more fairly.

Now, taking a step back, one of the things that drives the movement of birds, plants, and animals is the urbanization of previously rural areas.  As we build more, we displace more.  Ecosystems become fractured, and there are large breaks between areas where these organisms can live.  If we can plant parks and green areas to connect these pieces of land (or at minimum keep them closer to each other), we can help to save more of these organisms from eradication in our cities (or keep them from moving into more populated areas).  So when we talk about funding two parks, vs a park and a bird blind, for nature in general, having two parks is much better for the environment than adding resources to the existing park.  

Don’t Panic and Grab a Towel (This will be funny to some of you)

So what do we do?  The good news is this challenge has multiple pretty easy workarounds once you know the problem exists!

Using our fake bird club example, there are several options:

• The birding club splits into two and keeps half the group in area A and sends the other half to area B to record sightings
• The birding club can stay whole and rotate locations for recording sightings
• The birding club adds an extra day of bird watching and records at both sites

Form there, it’s relatively easy to look at any of these apps to see the locations where sightings have been recorded, you can then look to see the data gaps and then plan to visit some of these locations to record data.  

Safety First or You’ll Never Last

As always you should prep before going into any new area.  To be clear this has nothing to do with it being a wealthy area or a poorer area, you should take these steps anytime you are going to a new to you location:

• Scout First. Take a scouting trip via car to make sure that the location is safe, check reviews of the area on the interwebs (I use all trails and google reviews to get an idea before I make a plan to go).  Things to look for –  is there is a marked trail, is it in a heavily traveled area, are there dangerous intersections or crossings…use common sense, if you don’t make it, you won’t be able to provide good data!
• Make sure you have the essentials.
  • Take snacks and bring water!
  • Bring phone chargers in case you overuse your apps.
  • A well placed blister band aid can save you from pain and infection.
  • Because I watch too many crime podcasts, bring mace, a handy compass, a whistle, and a paper map.  You never know what will happen but it’s better to be overprepared than underprepared.
• Have a plan. Let others know what your plan is (where are you going, how long will you be there) and follow the plan, if you don’t follow the plan, let people know you have deviated from the plan.  People worry.
• Bring a Buddy. If you can, bring a buddy, if you can’t bring a buddy share your location with someone via phone, smartwatch, strava…make sure someone can find you in case something happens.

Good luck out there and happy data gathering!