Celebrate

Nature Alberta launched the Franklin’s Ground Squirrel citizen science project in 2022 after local naturalists identified the species as likely being in decline in Alberta. Through Family Nature Nights, webinars, presentations to naturalist groups, and other outreach events, the project has encouraged Albertans to report sightings using iNaturalist and contribute valuable data. 

Before the project began, only less than ten Franklin’s ground squirrel observations were submitted each year. Since 2022, the number of observations has increased every year, demonstrating how citizen scientists are helping researchers better understand where this elusive species can still be found. This success highlights the important role that community members can play in conservation efforts, showing how citizen science can generate meaningful data that supports research and species recovery. 

Researchers are also conducting fieldwork to learn more about the species’ diet, habitat, and the factors contributing to its decline. Public observations remain a critical part of the project, as every sighting helps monitor populations, identify important habitat, and support conservation efforts for a species at risk of disappearing from parts of its current range. 

Learn more about the project and how to submit your observations at: https://naturealberta.ca/ground-squirrel/   

Collaborators: Jessica Haines (MacEwan University), Josh Miller (MacEwan University), David McFadyen (MacEwan University), Diana Tirlea (Royal Alberta Museum), Nature Alberta 

The Christmas Bird Count (CBC), the world’s longest-running citizen science project, once again brought Albertans together in impressive numbers to survey winter bird populations across the province.

Volunteers helped set nine all-time provincial records this year. A total of 58 count circles were completed across Alberta in 2025. Collectively, 1,365 field participants and 710 feeder watchers recorded 207,476 birds representing 113 species—two more species than were recorded last year.

Edmonton led the province in participation with 567 observers, followed by Calgary with 265 and Lethbridge with 119, highlighting the continued enthusiasm and dedication of Alberta’s birding community.

If you would like to volunteer, visit Nature Alberta to find contact details about local count circles, you can find the information here: https://naturealberta.ca/christmas-bird-count/.

Collaborators: Nature Alberta, Birds Canada

Summary: Final results for the 2025 Alberta Biodiversity Challenge have been tabulated! The bioblitz ran from June 12-15, and observations from those days could be posted up until June 30, 2025. We then left the project open for identifications until July 31. The official results are now in.

Overall, in Alberta we had 11730 observations of 1886 species, by 938 observers, identified by 677 volunteer identifiers. Top observers were @quillipede with an impressive 482 observations and @lophozia with a whopping 183 species. Compared to last year, we submitted 2735 more observations, 213 more species were documented, and 253 more people participated (combining observers and identifiers).

Similar to last year, metro-Edmonton won the Edmonton-Calgary rivalry for number of observations (2484) and species (695), but Calgary wins again this year for the overall participation, with 279 observers. Find out more details about the result at https://naturealberta.ca/2025-alberta-biodiversity-challenge-results/.

Collaborators: Nature Alberta, Greg Pohl

From June 21-23, 2024, the Alberta Native Plant Council held their annual Botany Alberta event at Lesser Slave Lake Provincial Park. The event brought together 22 enthusiastic participants for an immersive experience exploring the rich plant biodiversity of the park, from up top of Marten Mountain (Lily Lake Trail) to the Whispering Sands Trail along Lesser Slave Lake. In total, we contributed 47 new vascular plant species to the Park’s inventory, including locations for 7 provincially rare plant species such as devil’s club, northern beech fern and sand rice grass (a new observation for the Park!). The iNaturalist page for this project remains active for those who are keen to submit further identifications to refine the plant list from the event.

Collaborators: Alberta Native Plant Council, Alberta Forestry and Parks, Lesser Slave Lake Centre for Bird Conservation

Read the full report here

In July 2024, Alberta Environment & Protected Areas (EPA) came across a report of Himalayan Balsam / Impatiens glandulifera on the citizen science tool iNaturalist. EPA promptly engaged the Municipal District of Bonnyville and a local environmental stewardship group, Lakeland Industry and Community Association, for a collaborative response effort.  One week later, the three groups arranged to meet at the reported location and conducted a partial shoreline survey. Fortunately, the infestation had not grown to an extensive size, and the team was able to remove all the invasive plants encountered. By catching this problem early, the team was able to protect the shoreline habitat and avoid more disruptive control measures required for larger infestations. The report by a member of the public was the key to success in this case. You can help protect Alberta waters by reporting any and all aquatic invasive species to EPA via EDDMapS, iNaturalist, epa.ais@gov.ab.ca, or call the Aquatic Invasive Species hotline at 1-855-336-BOAT (2628).

Collaborators: Municipal District of Bonnyville, Lakeland Industrial & Community Association (LICA).

Learn more by watching the following video: https://www.facebook.com/infoLICAonline/videos/stop-the-spread-lica-invasivespecies-mooselake2024-watershed-stopthespread-envir/838697248434902/