Welcome, Fire Followers!
In 2020, California experienced the largest fire season in recorded history. 2021 also proved to be another disastrous year. Amid an ongoing drought and record heat waves, CA experienced an unusually early start to fire season. According to CALFIRE, in January alone, close to 300 fires burned. Although this wildfire season did not reach the level it did in 2020, it is becoming apparent that wildfires are becoming more intense and more difficult to deal with. With that said, fire is as much a natural part of California as earthquakes, and can be as destructive: buildings leveled, lives lost, places dramatically changed. But fire is also a necessary part of nature, often awakening sleeping seeds and providing a light blanket of ash to nurture fresh growth. Plants dependent on fire are an important part of California's natural diversity, we call “pyrodiversity.”
The Fire Followers project seeks to record the response of plants in areas burned in the 2020 and 2021 fire season. With your help, we can compare plants seen before and after fires, increase understanding of pyrodiversity, and provide crucial information on species of concern to aid in recovery and conservation efforts.This project will increase our understanding of the reciprocal relationship between plants and fire. In addition to the scientific value that Fire Followers offers as a community science project, it empowers individuals of all backgrounds, especially those historically excluded from conservation and outdoor spaces, to engage with the community, science and their local environments.
Check out our website https://www.cnps.org/fire-followers for more about the project and other ways to get involved. Be sure to join and trust our Fire Followers 2021 project!
Feel free to also join or 2020 project here: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/california-fire-followers-2020
About our Project
As I am writing this, we have nearly 2,500 observations of ~900 species! You’re tagged in this post because you are among the top observers so far and we hope that you are willing to take part in documenting and observing the incredible pyrodiversity in California. If you live near a burned area that is safely accessible to the public, go and venture out on your own or follow our website here to find out about more ways to get involved. Also, feel free to share this project with your networks and community! All of your observations made within our burned area boundaries throughout California will be aggregated in our California Fire Followers Project here on iNaturalist.
@mmchale @cwbarrows @madfox @eogren @dgrimmphd @euproserpinus @brennanpopovic @efmer @susanmf @dalemeister @salviadorrii @trickman @georgewilliams1 @rogue_biologist @lagoondon @naturephotosuze @coreyk @aquajen @jmstone @jaesparza11 @lalagregg @tjhastings @antrozousamelia @justin426 @lazyhippie @jprado @dylansramosissima @alice_abela @lcsaki @goflowers @maitrimaven @eschniter @trinitytogether @ergunnison @karli_lawrence @empid @tombombadil @zorker @rebeccatwiss @oliviajenkins16 @conormcmahon @xranger2013 @justin2 @eliaselias @quinn_street @looking4salvia @victoriayef @francesfo @brothanature @justingarwood
Can’t wait to see all your contributions!
Σχόλια
Thanks for letting me know about this project! I noticed that the project is currently pulling in observations of more than just plants. Was that an oversight, or is the intent to keep track of responses of other taxa as well?
Hi @euproserpinus, thank you for joining and contributing to the project so far! Although our project mainly focuses on plant observations, we included other taxa in case anyone else is interested in using that data as well. We also plan to do a challenge around pollinator week this year.
Glad you're intentionally including other species! Butterflies and moths may show some interesting recovery patterns. Unfortunately, not a lot of people are out there collecting moth data pre-fire (or post-fire, for that matter). It's a bit better for butterflies. The Lassen butterfly count and Butterfly Valley butterfly count include areas burned in the Dixie Fire, so hopefully we'll continue to conduct those counts and get some interesting post-fire data.
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