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2015 Block Buster Survey

2015 Invasive Species Block Buster Survey

Welcome to the 2015 Lower Hudson PRISM Block Buster invasive species survey. The objective is to survey the region by having each participant survey for invasive species you are comfortable identifying within one or more 5x5 km (~3x3 mile) blocks focusing on recording abundances as well as absences of species for each place.

Training

We are hosting several training events to prepare all participants

      The orientation covers how the "Block-Buster" event will work, the supporting materials, how the data will be collected, what the various reporting options are (e.g. iMapInvasives, online Forms, digital\cellphone Apps, paper forms). Jennifer Dean from IMapInvasives NY reviews survey protocols and data entry procedures. Supporting information that will help you identify good areas to survey will be provided.

  • Introduction to Widespread Invasive Plants - learn how to identify 14 species from the Basic list.

Tuesday July 14 10:00-12:00 at Cornell Cooperative Extension - Rockland Co., Stony Point, NY. Register HERE for July 14 session.

  • Kick-Off event: Friday, July 10, 10:00- 12:00 at the City of Newburgh Town Hall

The kick-off event will review important safety issues, field navigation, parking and parcel access, data collection, plant ID and a wide range of topics. Jennifer Dean has graciously agreed to help us again, in reviewing: survey app. details (photos, etc...) as well as Project IDs and data issues.   Live examples of many of the plants on the basic list will be available to study.

Protocol Guide

For eager surveyors who are not able to attend one of these trainings, we provide this detailed Block-Buster Survey Protocol Guide, which will walk you through what we’re attempting, how we envision it going, and the various steps involved with Choosing & Registering a Block, Selecting your Survey Level, Performing a Survey, Uploading your Data. 

How to Register for the Survey

To Register to survey for your chosen Block, you will need to:

1. Chose a block to survey

Find your desired block, inspect the areas contained within and note the Block reference number either from this PDF map Lower Hudson PRISM Grid Survey Reference Map (PDF) or this KML file (for use within Google Earth (free software) Lower Hudson PRISM Grid Survey Reference Map (KMZ)

Get a more complete understanding of each block by downloading a detailed Block map with either a topographic base (http://lhprism.org/document/map-library-lower-hudson-prism-srn-block-buster-support-maps-topo) or an air photo base: http://lhprism.org/document/map-library-lower-hudson-prism-srn-block-buster-support-maps-air-photo 

2. Review the species lists and decide which list you'll use to survey from.

It's important to note that you need not search for every species on the list that you chose to use - only those species you are comfortable identifying.

  • BASIC Survey: includes some 26 plants that are fairly straightforward to identify, and includes both Widespread and Emerging species
  • FOCAL Survey: includes 10 species that we'd very much like to get a much more thorough understanding of both Abundance and Absence (sites\regions where they are *not* found).
  • MOSTLIKELY Survey: list holds 100 of the most common (by frequency) species and offers the trained field surveyor the option of tailoring a list to meet their own needs. We are strongly encouraging all future surveys to include both Abundance (of the species noted) as well as when a plant was looked for, and *not* found.
  • MASTERLIST: contains some 500 species (found and within the region) with some marked as Common Species (with low survey interest, such as common field weeds) as well as those marked as Early Detection and Rapid Response (EDRR) species that we'd very much like to capture occurrences of.

All of these lists can be found in this on-line spreadsheet Survey Plant Lists (Google Sheet) or this downloadable Microsoft Excel file Survey Plant Lists (Excel).

3. iMapInvasives account

If you have an iMapInvasives account, please have available the name your iMapInvasives surveys are reported as

4. Register to Participate

Block Buster Registration ==> REGISTRATION LINK

PRISM-wide Reference and Context Maps

Full set of Reference Maps (.JPG\.PDF) http://tinyurl.com/LHP-RefMaps and the Geodata (KMZ, Google Earth format)), http://tinyurl.com/LHP-SRN-KMZ

The KMZ files provide the ability to explore areas of of the Block grid systems using Google Earth (free software) and especially, the ones containing the towns, parcels, habitats and regions you'd like to survey (or would like to help "fill-in" with inventories)

Supporting information that will help you identify good areas to survey will be provided. (Be sure to attend the orientation session June 24 to find out more.)

Data Collecting and Reporting Methods

Participants will have several methods available for collecting and reporting data:

1. Direct iMapInvasives Database Method

The iMapInvasives Database is used by most of the invasive species surveyors in NY state. We strongly urge all Lower Hudson PRISM partners, participants and stakeholders to register for and set up an iMapInvasives NY data account. If you have an iMapInvasives account, please use it to directly submit your data.

http://www.nyimapinvasives.org

 Jennifer Dean will even let folks who have visited the following training materials do this during our events. (It's also a great review!).

Please visit: http://www.nyimapinvasives.org/Training/training-video/observation

2. Tablet and Smartphone Data Collection

iMapInvasives NY Mobile (Android) http://www.nyimapinvasives.org/mobile/download
iNaturalist: (IOS, Android) https://www.inaturalist.org/
EDDMaps - Mid Atlantic Early Detection Network (MAEDN) (IOS, Android) https://www.eddmaps.org/midatlantic

3. Google forms reporting site method

To make data entry easy and accessible, we've developed a simple reporting site, that can be used either in the field (on your cell phone), as an email form, or through a browser.

For instructions as to how digital imagery (photos) can be captured, labeled and submitted as part of this protocol, please visit: http://tinyurl.com/o9wncpy

4. Printable (Paper) field data forms method

Print-ready PDF forms.  Paper forms can be used in the field and then data entered using our Google forms above. Or you can mail in your paper forms.

Once you are done with your Block Survey

Please fill out the form below to let us know how much time you spent searching your block, and a summary of your results (what species you searched for and which ones you didn't find.) This feedback will help us track the level of effort spent.

Contact

Please contact Linda Rohleder with any questions.