NAFHA in 2011

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jonathan
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NAFHA in 2011

Post by jonathan »

Here is my breakdown of what went on in NAFHA in 2011.

NAFHA "is a non-profit volunteer organization dedicated to uniting amateur, private and professional herpetologists from Canada, the United States and Mexico toward the common goal of better understanding, conserving and managing native North American reptiles and amphibians."

NAFHA's homepage explains the chapters, conservancy projects, surveys, and database contests:

http://www.nafha.org/


NAHERP.COM

In 2011 NAFHA members contributed 34,046 records to the NAHERP database, which now has over 92,000 records.

http://www.naherp.com/

The main purpose of the database is to give amateur field herpers a means to aid herp researchers and influence the decisions made by government and conservation groups. We want to give scientists and agencies accurate information on how common herps really are and where they're actually found. We also are building good will between professional and amateur herpetologists and between conservationists and field herpers by showing them how they can work together.


In 2011 NAHERP.com had 7 different data requests from state/county agencies and university researchers. A total of 13 requests have now been made for information from the NAHERP database (12 of which were approved of the members who entered the relevant data), including:

* Data on 15 potentially sensitive species in California for the UC Davis team in charge of the rewriting of California's Amphibian and Reptile "Species of Special Concern" (ARSSC) list

* Data on the distribution of certain herps present in the Great Lakes region for Northern Illinois University researchers modeling herp distributions in order to predict the potential effects of local climate change on herp range

* Data on the distribution of herps present in the Great Plains for Colorado State University researchers looking to improve niche modeling of herp ranges based on habitat as well as evaluate the potential contribution of "citizen scientists" to scientific research

* Data on herps potentially occupying National Forest lands in California for the UC Santa Barbara team in charge of assisting with the rewrite of the US Forest Service's "Forest Sensitive Species" list

* Data on pond turtles in southern California for a USGS scientist in charge of identifying existing pond turtle populations and measuring their genetic diversity

* State agencies in Missouri, Texas, New Jersey, and Utah and county agencies in Bucks County, Maryland and Ventura County, California all requested data. In some cases they requested data that specifically filled in gaps in their knowledge of herp distributions; in other cases they requested data on specific species they consider to be sensitive in their region.

As the volume of data grows and NAFHA's reputation spreads, the number of data requests should increase substantially. All data in NAHERP.com is tightly protected. No locality data other than the county is ever available to the public, and no data is released to a requesting agency without a vote by the contributing members. Sensitive entries can be kept completely hidden from the public if so marked. Even if the members vote to release data for a particular request, any individual member always has the ability to keep his/her data from being released. If you have any questions, talk to Don Becker, who is responsible for site code and data security and is the only person in NAFHA who can ever see any of the hidden data, which he does not access unless a problem arises with the entry.


HERP SURVEYS

NAFHA also does herp surveys - it's a way for conservation groups to get data about the herps on their land and a way for us to get onto private land that no one else herps and collect more data for NAHERP. Herp surveys have now included:

* Tejon Ranch Conservancy, Escondido Creek Conservancy, San Dieguito River Conservancy, Soquel Demonstration Forest, Fallbrook Land Conservancy, and Caspers Wilderness Park in California (and more coming in 2012)
* Great Basin National Park (Nevada Mountain Kings) in Nevada, with more planned
* Chatfield Park in Colorado
* Four Corners area in Colorado/Utah/New Mexico/Arizona
* Mills Canyon in New Mexico
* McDowell Sonoran Conservancy in Arizona
* Baton Rouge Commission land in Louisiana
* DeSoto State Park in Alabama
* Everglades in Florida
* Delmarva Peninsula in Delaware/Maryland/Virginia
* Maryland Herp Atlas
* Delaware Water Gap in Pennsylvania
* Columbia River Gorge in Washington
* Sierra Madre Occidental in Sonora, Mexico

NAFHA was thanked last year by the Tejon Ranch Conservancy for collecting data that helped make the case for them to receive a $15.8 million grant that facilitates the purchase of 62,000 acres of amazing land that will now be protected from development.


EDUCATION EVENTS

NAFHA members across the country have been spearheading events that educate the public about herps. Some of the projects I know of include Jim Bass and Josh Cummings at the Grassy Hollow Visitor Center, Steve Bledsoe and other California NAFHA members with the Orange County parks system, and Mike Pingleton, Josh Holbrook, Tamara McConnell, and other Southeast NAFHA members at DeSoto State Park.



I'm sure I missed stuff - feel free to add or ask questions.
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jonathan
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Re: NAFHA in 2011

Post by jonathan »

If you want to start entering data for NAHERP and want to know how, Brian Hubbs wrote up a short tutorial here:

viewtopic.php?f=12&t=3679


Here are a few more statistics on the database:


Total records added to www.naherp.com by year:

2006: 776 records
2007: 6,815 records
2008: 12,347 records
2009: 12,560 records
2010: 24,774 records
2011: 34,046 records


Total vouchered records added to www.naherp.com:

2006-2009: 21,474 vouchered records
2010: 23,768 vouchered records
2011: 32,687 vouchered records


Total database requests made to NAFHA:

2009: 1 request
2010: 5 requests
2011: 7 requests
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Re: NAFHA in 2011

Post by Kent VanSooy »

:thumb:
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Re: NAFHA in 2011

Post by RobertH »

Thanks, Jonathan, very nice :thumb:

Robert
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Re: NAFHA in 2011

Post by jonathan »

Paul Lynum wrote:Just curious. Why a survey on the Santa Rita Mountains? They're well documented. Why not a more obscure mountain range in the same area? Dos Cabezas Mountains gets very little to no herp traffic at all. Food for thought.
I would suspect that's the direction they'd go in the future. I think those two mountain surveys were one-time events very early in NAFHA, in the pre-crash days. Sort of like when the California chapter was scheduling trips to Cabezon and Anza-Borrego (I didn't even count those as surveys). But any Arizona member who went can correct me if I am giving the wrong impression.
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Re: NAFHA in 2011

Post by Mike Pingleton »

Cool - thanks for compiling this, Jonathan. You might want to add our herp survey that took place in Sonora, Mexico, in August 2011. As a result, 170 records were added, and a significant number of county records and new species were added to the database.

-Mike
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Re: NAFHA in 2011

Post by jonathan »

Thanks Mike! It's added. Awesome to have a Mexico survey on there. I think the Midwest Chapter is the only one left that doesn't have at least one survey to its name.
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Re: NAFHA in 2011

Post by Mike Pingleton »

jonathan wrote:Thanks Mike! It's added. Awesome to have a Mexico survey on there. I think the Midwest Chapter is the only one left that doesn't have at least one survey to its name.
I know I was busy doing surveys elsewhere :) Midwest should have at least one this year.

-Mike
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Re: NAFHA in 2011

Post by Biker Dave »

For clarification purposes only...

Right now the only "official" survey that the AZ Chapter is involved in is the McDowell Sonoran Preserve. The reference to the Ritas and others , I believe, is a bit of a misnomer and should be edited out. In prior Monsoon Herp Events we have herped the Ritas and other Sky Islands as a group but did no "official" survey type work there.

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Re: NAFHA in 2011

Post by hellihooks »

Yeah... I think there should be a clear demarcation tween surveys done for Agencies, and just members getting together to herp. The 'official' ones help provide ethos for NAFHA at large, but the member-initiated surveys to 'fill gaps' are equally important, for you never know where, or for what, the next data request will be for... :thumb: I look forward to the Ca. Chapter doing a bunch of each this year... :D jim

JOOC...was Mex an 'official' survey?
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Re: NAFHA in 2011

Post by Brian Hubbs »

I'm curious how Jonathan can get a total of entries for 2011 when people are still entering data from 2011...until Jan 31st...
Other than that, this was another impressive PR display Jonathan...keep up the good work... :thumb:

And Dave, JOOC means "Just out of curiosity" (just in case you were wondering...JICYWW) :lol: :lol: :lol: 8-)
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Re: NAFHA in 2011

Post by jonathan »

Brian Hubbs wrote:I'm curious how Jonathan can get a total of entries for 2011 when people are still entering data from 2011...until Jan 31st...
I was giving the total # of data entries entered in 2011. That number cannot change once 2011 is over. The number of data entries entered in 2011 is very different from the number of entries counted for a contest.
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Re: NAFHA in 2011

Post by Brian Hubbs »

Oh... :o So, that means the Historical contest is over for 2011?
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Re: NAFHA in 2011

Post by jonathan »

Brian Hubbs wrote:Oh... :o So, that means the Historical contest is over for 2011?
What I said has nothing to do with the contest.
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Re: NAFHA in 2011

Post by jonathan »

Biker Dave wrote:For clarification purposes only...

Right now the only "official" survey that the AZ Chapter is involved in is the McDowell Sonoran Preserve. The reference to the Ritas and others , I believe, is a bit of a misnomer and should be edited out. In prior Monsoon Herp Events we have herped the Ritas and other Sky Islands as a group but did no "official" survey type work there.
Thanks Dave, I fixed it. I've had those surveys on their since the first time I did a NAFHA round-up three years ago or so, and I don't remember where I got the information from. McDowell alone is on there now.


Jim - I think that when NAFHA members get together to make a planned, concerted effort to survey an area, it should be recognized. I'm thinking things like the Delmarva, Four Corners, DeSoto, Everglades, etc. Some of those surveys involved a large number of NAFHA members, several consecutive days of work (and even repeated trips in multiple years), carefully planned routes to hit areas that were underrepresented by the database, and even preplanned permitting as necessary. I don't see anything wrong with recognizing the full range of survey work initiated by NAFHA.
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Re: NAFHA in 2011

Post by hellihooks »

jonathan wrote: Jim - I think that when NAFHA members get together to make a planned, concerted effort to survey an area, it should be recognized. I'm thinking things like the Delmarva, Four Corners, DeSoto, Everglades, etc. Some of those surveys involved a large number of NAFHA members, several consecutive days of work (and even repeated trips in multiple years), carefully planned routes to hit areas that were underrepresented by the database, and even preplanned permitting as necessary. I don't see anything wrong with recognizing the full range of survey work initiated by NAFHA.
Yes, of course 'member-initiated' surveys should be recognized, and are (perhaps) more important than 'requested' surveys/data requests... they just should be listed separate from the 'official' surveys. Like you just did for AZ... :shock: jim
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Re: NAFHA in 2011

Post by jonathan »

hellihooks wrote:
jonathan wrote: Jim - I think that when NAFHA members get together to make a planned, concerted effort to survey an area, it should be recognized. I'm thinking things like the Delmarva, Four Corners, DeSoto, Everglades, etc. Some of those surveys involved a large number of NAFHA members, several consecutive days of work (and even repeated trips in multiple years), carefully planned routes to hit areas that were underrepresented by the database, and even preplanned permitting as necessary. I don't see anything wrong with recognizing the full range of survey work initiated by NAFHA.
Yes, of course 'member-initiated' surveys should be recognized, and are (perhaps) more important than 'requested' surveys/data requests... they just should be listed separate from the 'official' surveys. Like you just did for AZ... :shock: jim
I'd rather keep it simple. The update is already way too long for most people to read - no reason to make it even longer with even more explanation.

I took out the two Arizona surveys because Dave asked me to, because he said it was "unofficial", and because I wasn't there. We've done other surveys too that I didn't include - like the one in western SB county that we did a few years ago. But ones I did include were major, multiday events, planned well ahead of time on NAFHA boards as official NAFHA events. If you really really don't like the formatting of the update, I'm sorry, but I already put a lot of work into it and am not going to redo it for a problem I don't see.
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Re: NAFHA in 2011

Post by hellihooks »

Whatever... ain't worth arguing over. Overall, the write up looks great... :beer: jim
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Re: NAFHA in 2011

Post by Biker Dave »

Thanks jonathan!
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Re: NAFHA in 2011

Post by Matt Arnold »

Just curious, how did the Lousiana survey go?
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Re: NAFHA in 2011

Post by jonathan »

Matt Arnold wrote:Just curious, how did the Lousiana survey go?
I believe it is still ongoing, but 8 months in they had found 49 species.

viewtopic.php?f=12&t=8525
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Re: NAFHA in 2011

Post by gretzkyrh4 »

Matt Arnold wrote:Just curious, how did the Lousiana survey go?
Efforts have slowed with the cooler weather, but the Fenchtown Survey is still ongoing. There have only been a few new species added recently, but I'll probably put up a 12 month post mid-February.

Chris
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Re: NAFHA in 2011

Post by Biker Dave »

How are other folks entering data for the official surveys?

Here is how I am doing it for the McDowell Sonoran Preserve Survey.....

Under Search Records scroll down to Survey, McDowell Sonoran Preserve and you will see all of our entries so far.

Dave
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Re: NAFHA in 2011

Post by gretzkyrh4 »

Dave

We've just been logging them personally and listing "Frenchtown Road Conservation Area" under locality. With 3 of us surveying the site, not always at the same time, it just seemed easier to enter them in this manner.

Chris
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Re: NAFHA in 2011

Post by jonathan »

In California we've split up data-entering duties among the different NAFHA members at the survey and then checked with each other afterwards to make sure that the data was entered. In some surveys (Escondido Creek and Tejon Ranch at least), the members also sent in their individual data numbers to the individual coordinating the survey so he could compile it and send it to the Conservancy involved.
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Re: NAFHA in 2011

Post by Biker Dave »

Just my opinion, but I think it would be better in the future if official surveys were given a separate ''account'' on H.E.R.P. That way folks outside of the survey could see what was done.
Any agree, or disagree?

Dave
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Re: NAFHA in 2011

Post by Brian Hubbs »

I don't understand why Scott moved this thread to Nafha. It seemed to me that Jonathan was trying to get the message of Nafha across to the FHF people...but every time anyone tries that, Scott moves the post... :o
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Re: NAFHA in 2011

Post by jonathan »

Biker Dave wrote:Just my opinion, but I think it would be better in the future if official surveys were given a separate ''account'' on H.E.R.P. That way folks outside of the survey could see what was done.
Any agree, or disagree?
My main concern - how many people would have access to that account? Would you give the password to a lot of different people so they could all enter data, or would you make one person enter in all the data themselves? If lots of people have the password, that increases the chance that someone who shouldn't have access gets a hold of it, and then they'd have all the exact data for the whole survey. But if only one person has it, then that makes a lot of work for that one person.

I can see that model working with some surveys...my fear is that it wouldn't work for every survey, so if we forced people in that direction there'd be less enthusiasm to do surveys.

There are other minor concerns I can think of (like not being able to fully keep track of one's own records with your own NAFHA account anymore), but those are much less important.
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Re: NAFHA in 2011

Post by jonathan »

Brian Hubbs wrote:I don't understand why Scott moved this thread to Nafha. It seemed to me that Jonathan was trying to get the message of Nafha across to the FHF people...but every time anyone tries that, Scott moves the post... :o

I hadn't noticed that happened. That's a bit annoying, but at least it was up there for a while. Most of the people who were going to see it probably did.
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Re: NAFHA in 2011

Post by gretzkyrh4 »

Biker Dave wrote:Just my opinion, but I think it would be better in the future if official surveys were given a separate ''account'' on H.E.R.P. That way folks outside of the survey could see what was done.
Any agree, or disagree?

Dave
We keep an updated account of our activities (species list, methods used, etc) on nafha page about the survey and have begun posting 6 month updates on the main and sc chapter forums. This seemed an easier method of keeping others informed at least to me. The seperate account would also seem to pose a challenge in situations where numerous surveyors would need access to it. Just two cents.

Chris
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Re: NAFHA in 2011

Post by Biker Dave »

For our project I act as a Project Lead and am responsible for entering the data as well as reporting the data to the Preserve management.
A larger project could have multiple people feed info to one or maybe two people to enter data.

Dave
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Re: NAFHA in 2011

Post by kyle loucks »

Entering the data needs coordination from whomever is leading the event. Followup is also needed to ensure that all the records are entered by those who said they would do so. What can be done is to make sure that the locations are common, and that can be decided at the time of the event.
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Re: NAFHA in 2011

Post by Biker Dave »

Each chapter can decide in advance who will be responsible for what duty and work accordingly. It really doesn't take a lot of over thinking to accomplish the main goal.

Dave
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Re: NAFHA in 2011

Post by Mike Pingleton »

There's still a link to this thread from the main forum. I wouldn't let this deter anyone from posting NAFHA stuff there.
-Mike
jonathan wrote:
Brian Hubbs wrote:I don't understand why Scott moved this thread to Nafha. It seemed to me that Jonathan was trying to get the message of Nafha across to the FHF people...but every time anyone tries that, Scott moves the post... :o

I hadn't noticed that happened. That's a bit annoying, but at least it was up there for a while. Most of the people who were going to see it probably did.
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Re: NAFHA in 2011

Post by Brian Hubbs »

Anyone seen an infection like this before...it's part of the reason I've been a little grumpy this week. It finally drained today and feels much better, but I'm still on antibiotics...no clue what caused it. Sorry if I jumped on you a little Mike...

Image
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Re: NAFHA in 2011

Post by FunkyRes »

Why not have a field in the DB for NAFHA surveys, similar to the field for museum ID, e.g. the contents of field could be something like: NAFHA: Golden Gate Park 2012

(Got to document all those RES in GG Park ;)

Biologists interested in bio-data from a survey could then make a request by survey name.

The entry field could even be only available to the DB admin, if worried about people spelling the name wrong or using the field incorrectly. Survey lead sends Don a list of entries from an official NAFHA survey and he can batch add the field to those entries.

I would leave the survey name out of web search parameters and out of public display of record so that general public couldn't search by survey to get info on what species are at a specific locale, but the field could be used by the DB admin to release data to agencies that want the data and are approved to have it.
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Re: NAFHA in 2011

Post by FunkyRes »

Damn, that looks nasty. Hope it heals quickly.
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Re: NAFHA in 2011

Post by Biker Dave »

Hubbs

I think it is called "thumbupyourassitis"
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Re: NAFHA in 2011

Post by Biker Dave »

If the survey is done in an area that is closed to the public than I see no problem posting the data as GPS coordinates are not visible.
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Re: NAFHA in 2011

Post by Mike Pingleton »

Holy crap! I've never seen anything like that. Looks awful.
No worries....
Brian Hubbs wrote:Anyone seen an infection like this before...it's part of the reason I've been a little grumpy this week. It finally drained today and feels much better, but I'm still on antibiotics...no clue what caused it. Sorry if I jumped on you a little Mike...

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Re: NAFHA in 2011

Post by ratsnakehaven »

Jonathan, congrats on an excellent post... :thumb:
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Re: NAFHA in 2011

Post by Chris Smith »

:thumb:

Any chance we can get some sort of summary into the Herp Nation mag?

-Chris
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