SAUGUS — Iron Works National Historic Site invites residents and visitors to participate in the City Nature Challenge event on Sunday.
“It’s really a very level no-pressure way to connect people with outdoor resources whether it is even in their backyard or local park, local picnic area, school yard,” said Visitor Experience and Community Engagement Manager at Salem Maritime and Saugus Iron Works National Historic Sites Susan Russo.
The City Nature Challenge on May 1 will take place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Saugus Iron Works Historic Site. Park staff and volunteers will have resource tables to help visitors explore the park, as well as to engage them in activities like guided walks and identifying fish and aquatic insects.
“Our biologist, Bill Fuchs, is going to be there with some other National Park Service staff, and he will have a table with some hands-on items really showing into specifics about species at the Saugus Iron Works National Historic Site,” said Russo.
Fuchs will be showing the visitors some “things that normally you don’t get to see,” said Russo. The organizers of the event like to promote the use of iNaturalist.
“It’s an app you download on your phone, and that helps you identify and record anything you see anywhere in this app database,” said Russo.
iNaturalist is a joint initiative by the California Academy of Sciences and the National Geographic Society. It is free and available for both Android and iPhone users. The app helps to identify nearby plants and animals and connect users to “a community of over a million scientists and naturalists.”
“What’s more, by recording and sharing your observations, you’ll create research-quality data for scientists working to better understand and protect nature,” the iNaturalist website said.
With people still trying to be safe after the pandemic, the City Nature Challenge in Saugus is not expected to be crowded. Between 50 to 100 people might show up throughout the day, according to Russo. The parking lot is big enough to accommodate these visitors.
“In the park, they will see the park site behind the wooden fence; the gate is always open, and just come out to the site, and they will see staff at tables where free stations are set up,” said Russo.
Most people working at the free stations will be biologists or natural-resource specialists, and they will be welcoming the visitors and explaining to them about the plants and wildlife at the park. The stations will be set up throughout the park, down by the river, and at the Nature Trail.
“It’s a way to show that nature is everywhere and introduce a few tools on how to notice it and appreciate it,” said Russo.
The Iron Works National Historic Site celebrates the City Nature Challenge in collaboration with the Saugus River Watershed Council. This challenge is an international citizen-science event to document all forms of life in parks, towns and cities. These events will take place between Friday and Monday.
Capitalizing on the friendly rivalry between two California cities, the initiative started in 2016 as a competition between Los Angeles and San Francisco. The City Nature Challenge engages citizens to document nature to better understand urban biodiversity. It is as simple as exploring, photographing living things and sharing the photographs.
