How to Do Community Science: A Crash Course in Calflora and iNaturalist

Community science, or science done with the help of data collected by the public, has become an important force in how plant and conservation science is now conducted. In 2025, over 25 million observations were made of plants alone on iNaturalist. Calflora, a more curated and local database, hosts 3.1 million observations of California plants. Through this sheer amount of data, scientists can monitor sensitive plant populations, track changes in bloom times due to changing climates, and observe range expansions and contractions. Species thought to be lost are rediscovered every year on iNaturalist. It is important now more than ever to closely track plant species ranges, to carefully observe what species arrive and vanish Froman area. iNaturalist and Calflora are two great ways to contribute to this monitoring effort. As spring rapidly arrives, and along with it our field trips and programs ramp up again, come join us for a night of community science fun and information on how to contribute to a valuable and growing reservoir of scientific data. Whether you are someone looking to identify spring flowers while walking your dog or already an ardent naturalist or Calflora user, come for a night centered around science-based learning and community. Chapter members David Popp and John Kelly will be presenting on how to use these databases to their fullest potential and what makes them so important. David Popp is a prolific user and contributor of photos to Calflora in his botanical exploration of Butte County. John spends much of his free time poking around on iNaturalist, for better or worse. The presentation will cover how to navigate iNaturalist and Calflora’s database, how to upload your observations of the local flora and contribute to a growing force of community scientists working across the state. There will be a live demonstration on how to use both websites, as well as an invitation to join the Mount Lassen Chapter’s iNaturalist project, a place to gather observations of our plant finds from our field trips and plant walks.