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Being outdoors is what motivates you to visit a site, as well as the joy of exploration and discovery. Recording where you went, what you saw, can round out this experience. Four types of complementary reporting can occur: Site Inspection Form, iNaturalist observations, a Site Visit post, and your own projects.
The step you have been waiting for, visiting a site! The hum of life in the summer, the crunch of leaves in the fall, the clarity of a cold winter day, the emergence of life in the spring.
- Reporting Emergencies
- SAPAA Site Inspection Form and Process
- SAPAA’s Use of iNaturalist
- Write a Site Visit Post
- Other Motivations to Visit – Your Passion Projects
Reporting Emergencies
Before getting to fun reporting, when to contact local police, or provincial authorities?
- An Emergency: Call 911 or contact the local RCMP or police detachment.
- Significant damage or disturbances: To report illegal activity and public safety issues on public land or in Provincial Parks, call 310-LAND.
- Poaching: Report suspicious or illegal hunting and fishing activity, or dangerous wildlife encounters online or by phone, 1-800-642-3800.
- A single biophysical observation (e.g. plant, bug, animal, lichen), use iNaturalist.
- A broad biophysical observation (e.g. a stand of trees, river bank slumping, state of a wetland), use the site inspection form.
SAPAA Site Inspection Form and Process
Training is available for completing the Site Inspection form. Generally it is straight forward and mostly self-evident. Safety and hazards related to recording a site inspection has been covered via previous pages in this Safety Manual.
SAPAA’s Use of iNaturalist
Similar to the Site Inspection Form, training is available elsewhere on this website. The two recording activities are complementary. A published site inspection and an iNaturalist observation are linked to a site page and included in various SAPAA reporting.
Write a Site Visit Post
SAPAA members and select friends of SAPAA are invited to publish their visit as a blog or post on the SAPAA website. Access can be granted after suitable training or with pre-existing experience with WordPress. To learn more, get training or access, contact webmaster@sapaastewards.com.
Other Motivations to Visit – Your Passion Projects
Individuals visiting a Protected Area often have secondary reasons to do so. Some are writing books on Alberta’s orchids, another creating a trail guide, and still others to visit nature and bird or do botany.
SAPAA strongly encourages what it calls ‘tangential interests’ as reasons to go and visit sites. Of course, for the individual, such interests are the primary reason to drive a considerable distance, feed mosquitoes, and get their feet wet. As a bonus, feel free to reasonably include your passion project details in your site visit post.
| Board Approval / Last Revision Date | [DATE] / [DATE] |
| Board Role Accountable | [POSITION] / [EMAIL] |
| Applies to: | All SAPAA Volunteers |
SAPAA 