It took a bit to decide how to describe this site, because it has several interesting features.
Nature’s Notebook is collecting data on when and where plants and animals are observed throughout the country. You can see where sightings have been made, map where species are found, correlate climate data, and explore the timeline of a species’ presence in your area.
Best of all, you can help!
Useful Pages:
- Visualization Tool
- Training Slides
- How to Observe
- Want an indoor way to participate? You can help transcribe historical data, too.
- Education materials are available, too.
There are so many ways you could incorporate this into your Troop programming. Use the visualization tool as part of the Plant Science or Zoology badges. Turn a campout or hike into an observation day (Women Scientists?). Organizing a larger observation effort might make for a good Harriet Tubman, Dolley Madison, or Stars and Stripes project. What other ideas do you have?