(by Anita Fernandez)
The NH Audubon Nature Challenge, a bioblitz type event taking place the last full week of June, includes over 20 NH Audubon sanctuary properties and needs your data. We welcome all in the Granite State to flex your skills as a scientist and help us inventory all animals, plants, and fungi in a targeted data collection effort from Sunday, June 21 – Saturday, June 27.
Your help is needed no matter where you are in New Hampshire; there is at least one included sanctuary in every region of the state and three locations that meet ADA accessibility guidelines. Using the free iNaturalist and eBird platforms, which can be downloaded right onto your phone, this weeklong event aims to document the birds, mammals, insects, reptiles, amphibians, flowers, trees, mosses, mushrooms and more that either stop at our sanctuaries or call them home! Visit one of the below NH Audubon properties (or many of them) and help us create a complete a living inventory of our lands.
RSVP for our NH Audubon Nature Challenge webinar here. We’ll be reviewing eBird and iNaturalist as well as the included sanctuaries and some helpful tips for participating. Even if you cannot attend the live training, please register and you will be emailed the recording and all documentation about the project.
We also have guided tours throughout the week at some of our sanctuaries. Please visit our Events Calendar to learn more and register. There is limited capacity, so secure your spot early.
Sanctuary Properties Included in Challenge
• Abe Emerson Marsh Wildlife Sanctuary, Candia
• Alice Bemis Thompson Wildlife Sanctuary (Thompson), Sandwich (ADA accessible)
• Bear Mountain Wildlife Sanctuary, Hebron
• Bellamy River Wildlife Sanctuary, Dover
• Brookside Wildlife Sanctuary, South Hampton
• Charles Henry & Mabel Lamborn Watts Wildlife Sanctuary (Watts), Effingham
• Dahl Wildlife Sanctuary, Conway
• Deering Wildlife Sanctuary, Deering
• dePierrefeu-Willard Pond Wildlife Sanctuary (Willard Pond), Antrim/Hancock
• Farley Meadow Wildlife Sanctuary, Nashua
• Gertrude Keith Hoyt & Edward Eaton Hoyt, Jr. Wildlife Sanctuary (Hoyt), Madison
• Ines and Frederick Yeatts Wildlife Sanctuary, Warren
• Kensan Devan Wildlife Sanctuary (Meetinghouse Pond), Marlborough
• Kwaks/Smith Sisters Wildlife Sanctuary (Follett’s Brook), Newmarket/Durham
• Massabesic Center/Battery Point Wildlife Sanctuary, Auburn (ADA accessible)
• McLane Center/Silk Farm Wildlife Sanctuary, Concord (ADA accessible)
• Newfound Center/Paradise Point Wildlife Sanctuary (& Hebron Marsh), Hebron
• Pondicherry Wildlife Sanctuary, Jefferson/Whitefield
• Ponemah Bog Wildlife Sanctuary, Amherst
• Popple Island Wildlife Sanctuary, Epsom
• Proctor Wildlife Sanctuary, Center Harbor
• Samuel Myron Chase Wildlife Sanctuary, Hopkinton
• Stoney Brook Wildlife Sanctuary, Newbury