July 18, 2025

A monarch butterfly resting on a New England aster (Symphyotrichum novae-angliae) at Cooper Marsh Conservation Area

Visitors to the Raisin Region Conservation Authority’s (RRCA) Conservation Areas who want to learn more about the natural environment can make use of their smartphones to easily identify plants, animals, and insects using the Seek app by iNaturalist. This app lets users snap a photo of their observation, which can then be identified and logged in an online database. Observations logged at the RRCA’s Conservation Areas also provide staff with useful data to help monitor biodiversity at Cooper Marsh, Charlottenburgh Park, Gray’s Creek Conservation Area. 

“The Seek and iNaturalist app are very useful tools,” says Scott Braithwaite, RRCA’s Project Coordinator. “They can act as your very own wildlife guidebook and help you identify any plant or animal you come across that piques your curiosity.”

Observations logged by users at each of the RRCA’s three Conservation Areas are automatically added to databases for Cooper Marsh, Charlottenburgh Park, and Gray’s Creek Conservation Area. This results in an ongoing bio-survey freely accessible to all at rrca.on.ca/CitizenScience. 

“With the increased accessibility of smartphones, more and more people are now engaging in citizen science with the help of these apps,” says Braithwaite. “So far, over 4,500 observations have been made across our three Conservation Areas, which have contributed to the RRCA’s conservation efforts.”

The RRCA currently conserves and maintains over 2,000 acres of environmentally significant land – including its three publicly accessible Conservation Areas – to preserve ecologically sensitive habitat, increase tree cover, maintain green infrastructure for flooding resilience, and to provide recreation and eco-tourism opportunities.

For more information and instructions to download and use the Seek app, visit rrca.on.ca/CitizenScience or contact (613) 938-3611 or info@rrca.on.ca.