Citizen Science – Join FLOW on iNaturalist

You can be a FLOW citizen scientist with just your smart phone and an iNaturalist account!

iNaturalist observations allow anyone to identify and share their observations of living things – animals, plants, fungi, and more.

We have added the Lower Olentangy Watershed as a “place” in iNaturalist, so any of your observations with coordinates within the watershed will automatically appear under that listing, helping us better determine the diversity of species in the watershed. It doesn’t have to be an unusual or rare species to be of interest.

You can search for Lower Olentangy Watershed or even Olentangy and see what wonders your watershed holds!

Upload your nature photo(s) to your iNaturalist account (it’s free!) and the site will offer suggestions to help you identify what you are looking at, and other users actively reach out and help confirm many of your identifications. The more detailed the photo the better, and you can add multiple photos of the same plant or animal.

New to iNaturalist? Here’s a step-by-step guide to getting started as a citizen scientist!

Even more! There are several ongoing “projects” on iNaturalist which will include your observations, no need to sign up. For example, Ohio Bumble Bees and Ohio Dragonfly Survey (Ohio Odonata Survey) will add your observations to their databases.

TRACK NOXIOUS WEEDS IN OHIO on iNATURALIST

The following species have recently been added to the Ohio Noxious Weed List by the Ohio Department of Transportation.  (The current list can be viewed here). If you find and identify any of these plants in the watershed (or elsewhere), please add to your iNaturalist observations. In addition, email COPRISM (Central Ohio Partnership for Regional Invasive Species Management) at centralohprism@gmail.com. This will help with updating the Noxious Weed Manual and also pinpoint where these plants are appearing.

Species recently added to Ohio Noxious Weed List (links to photos provided if available)

1. Forage Kochia (Bassia prostrata)
2. Heart-podded Hoary Cress (Lepidium draba)
3. Leafy Spurge (Euphorbia esula)
4. Water Hemp – also called Rough-Fruit Amaranth (Amaranthus tuberculatus)
5. Yellow Groove Bamboo (Phyllostachys aureosulcata)
6. Columbus Grass (Sorghum almum)
7. Russian Knapweed (Rhaponticum repens or Leuzea repens)
8. Hairy Whitetop/ Ballcress Lepidium (Lepidium appelianum)
9. Serrated or Nasella Tussock (Nassella trichotoma)