There is no better time to identify observations from other naturalists than when the weather outside is frightful and the nights are long and dark. Join us in turning observations into research grade for science and conservation. You don't have to be an expert to help make a difference!
The Vermont Atlas of Life depends on crowd-sourced platforms like iNaturalist as ever-growing sources of biodiversity data. Once observations have been uploaded, they need to be independently identified and verified by other users. Its called crowd-sourced identification, and the more people that are able to add an identification to an observation, the more likely it is correct. Only these verified data can be used for research and conservation. With nearly 1.4 million records shared to the Vermont Atlas of Life project at iNaturalist, there are many in need of verification. We are just 150,000 shy of one million verified observations.
Help us reach one million research grade records
Together, we’ve made about 850,000 iNaturalist observations into Research Grade records so far. But we have tens of thousands more to identify.
iNaturalist observations become candidates for Research Grade when they have a photo, date, and coordinates. They become “Research Grade” when the community agrees on an identification.
Grab your field guides and help us improve this important biodiversity database!
Join our mission and help us reach one million research grade records by the end of the year. Every ID helps! Maybe you can be a top 10 identifier! Of course, we all have to be careful and only identify those observations in which we can positively identify. But everyone can help no matter how much experience you have.
Learn how to use Identify tools on iNaturalist
