City of Cornwall welcomes citizen scientists at Biodiversity Workshops
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Do we really know what’s living in our local green spaces?
That is the ultimate question being posed to young participants of the city-led Biodiversity Workshops happening this Thursday and Friday.
On Thursday, city employees Angie Parker, Katherine Wells, and Kimberly Bray, assisted by summer students, made their way through four local parks in an effort to engage with citizen scientists in a scavenger hunt activity.
A fifth event was planned for St. Theresa’s Park on Thursday, but was called off due to the thunderstorm that rolled through the region during the afternoon.
While the scavenger hunt incorporates a competitive element, summer playground program leader Myrah Murray said that most of the children participating were approaching things as a group, working together, and having fun.
Each participant was awarded with a medal after identifying different plant and animal species that they observed. Some children were registered to take part in the event beforehand, while others joined in on location.
“It’s going really well. This year our theme is biodiversity. Each year we come to the parks and try to teach the kids something about the environment and climate sustainability in Cornwall,” said Wells. “We are doing a Bioblitz… which has been fun. We created these little colouring sheets that identify different species.”
“It shows the kids that in every single park, there’s a lot more than you would expect: bees, butterflies, beetles… all sorts of things. It’s a fun way to engage them.”
On Friday, the green thumbed team will be calling on young citizen scientists to join them at Alexander Park from 10-10:45 a.m., at Kinsmen Park from 11-11:45 a.m., at Reg Campbell Park from 1-1:45 p.m., at Menard Park from 2-2:45 p.m., and Mattice Park from 3-3:45 p.m.
While not directly affiliated with the Biodiversity Workshops, the city announced a Backyard Bioblitz opportunity taking place from July 28 to Aug. 1, calling on all locals to contribute their citizen science observations in the iNaturalist app.
“It is kind of cool because in other communities that have done this, sometimes things are identified that scientists are surprised are in that community,” Wells said.
For more information on the Backyard Bioblitz, visit the City of Cornwall’s website.
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