There are no observations of Spotted Turtles (Clemmys guttata) in Vermont, where they are endangered. These turtles were observed somewhere in Massachusetts, but their exact location is obscured. Photo by @sparrowmech
If you’re reading this, you’re probably familiar with the apps iNaturalist, eBird, and eButterfly. And if you don’t know them, now is the time! They allow regular folks like you to upload observations of wildlife — photos or recordings, complete with location data — and contribute to research that we conservation biologists use to protect wildlife.
This contribution of data from community scientists like you is essential to the work we do at VCE, allowing us access to a vast library of observations we would never be able to collect on our own. These databases are especially important to projects like my own, which uses this data to map the distributions of species across the state.
But what if you observe a protected or rare species? There are 53 animal and 164 plant species listed as endangered or threatened by Vermont’s Fish and Wildlife Department. Poaching and wildlife trafficking is unfortunately still an issue, even in the United States — we don’t want to accidentally give poachers a detailed map of where they can find their quarry!
For species under poaching pressure, like many reptiles and amphibians (due to collection for the pet trade), sharing exact locations could be catastrophic. If every time a community scientist observed a species like a Spotted Turtle (Clemmys guttata), which is endangered in Vermont and reproduces slowly, the actual location of that turtle was displayed online, this could be deadly for the species.
In fact, Vermont law stipulates that no location points of threatened or endangered species be published publicly in any way. So, as soon as you input an observation of a species that is listed as protected, rare, or vulnerable to trafficking, the publicly shared location is moved dozens of kilometers away. Especially in Vermont, the sixth smallest U.S. state, this movement can cover such a large patch of land that the wildlife you observe will always be protected.
This means that only the trusted few people running our projects, like VCE’s co-founder Kent McFarland, have access to the true coordinates of where the species was found.
This scientific compromise allows you to share the interesting and rare species you’ve found, while other community members get a vague idea of where a species lives, and conservation biologists like myself get to use these data to help inform conservation of the species, all without giving away the exact location to bad actors.
Though there are certainly people that wish to take or harm many species of wildlife, the conservation biologists and computer scientists that work at VCE, iNaturalist, eBird, and eButterfly are ahead of the game. Our primary goal is to protect and conserve these species. You can rest easy that locations of our rare and protected species are hidden, and safe with the right people.
If you want to help us collect data on Vermont’s wildlife, you can register for an iNaturalist account and get started right away. Be sure to select “location is public” when you submit your observation. Read our short primer on iNaturalist geoprivacy and learn how you can best set your geoprivacy settings for the Vermont Atlas of Life so that we can use your observations for science and conservation, then check out our short primer on setting copyright for observations, photographs, and sound recordings so that we can use your data for science and conservation.
