Help monitor the health of our forests while documenting invasive and native species along our trails...Become an Invasives Strike Force (ISF) Surveyor volunteer!
This iteration of our citizen science survey programming exclusively targets species that have been identified as a high-priority by Lower Hudson PRISM partners and other regional and state agency collaborators.
As an ISF Surveyor volunteer, you have the opportunity to become a forest health detective! Volunteers are trained in the identification and reporting of invasive species by attending a fun and interactive webinar, complete with field ID footage, to help learn what key ID features to look for when out in the field. Volunteers are then assigned a section of trail to search for these invasive plants and have the entire summer and early fall to survey and report back to us.
Trail section assignments are individually tailored to make it easy and convenient for that volunteer to access, and each volunteer can survey their trail assignment on their own schedule. Our goal is to make it fun, educational, and convenient to help protect the land you love! Data from these community-powered surveys are utilized to help make management decisions to help fight the further spread of invasive species into our natural areas and to organize volunteer workdays to help with the removal of invasive plants.
Not only will you learn how to identify invasive plants as part of your ISF experience, but you will also learn how to use some user-friendly mobile apps to help identify many other types of native plants and wildlife that you are seeing along your hike or in your neighborhood. It truly takes the nature experience to the next level!