Collabinar: California Biodiversity Day
August 28, 2024
Engaging the Public in
Conservation Through California Biodiversity Day
August 28, 2024
1:00 – 2:00 PM PST
Register here.
The mission of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) is to manage California’s diverse fish, wildlife, and plant resources, and the habitats upon which they depend, for their ecological values and for their use and enjoyment by the public. Public participation in the science that guides CDFW management decisions is key to meeting this mission. Dena Spatz, Biodiversity Coordinator, will share a few examples of areas where the department has engaged with the public in community science activities that leverages both data for critical conservation issues while also connecting people with the nature around them. One of the cornerstone efforts that she will discuss is California Biodiversity Day, a chance to inspire discovery of the nature of California through week-long activities, while encouraging everyday actions to protect and steward it.
Questions to be discussed:
- What is the power of iNaturalist and how is the department working to leverage iNaturalist data?
- What is the background on CA Biodiversity Day and how can one participate?
- How can we a) continue to reach broader and broader audiences and b) better leverage the collected data, visualize the data, and share the data to the public?
Presenter
Dena Spatz is the Biodiversity Coordinator with CDFW. She works alongside agency, non-profit, tribes, and academics to bring together and distribute information to help conserve the state’s biodiversity. She works within CDFW’s Science Institute where she serves as a liaison with the California Biodiversity Network and the California 30×30 team, is helping establish long-term biodiversity monitoring through the Sentinel Site Network, and organizes the state’s annual Biodiversity Day, which includes scaling community science participation in biodiversity science and conservation. She received her PhD at UC Santa Cruz in the Conservation Action Lab within the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Department.
About the Collabinar Series
The Center for Community and Citizen Science Collabinar events invite our partners from across the globe to bring us their most exciting challenges and opportunities in community and citizen science. Each event supports mutual learning, and advances projects and partnerships. To stay informed about upcoming Collabinars, please sign up here.
