Photo challenge nears goal of 1 million entries for B.C. Parks Foundation database

When the B.C. Parks Foundation launched its nature challenge this spring, they set a lofty goal of gathering one million photos to showcasethe province's biodiversity. Despite the arrival of a global pandemic, British Columbians have largely delivered.

The foundation has collected over 955,000 crowdsourced nature photos with three monthsleft to go in the calendar year.

Andrew Day, CEO of the B.C. Parks Foundation, said the challenge was to gather observations from around the province of the natural world both animal and plants and builda database forresearchers.

Citizen scientists can upload their photographs via the Big Nature Challenge homepage orvia the iNaturalistapp.

"In the background, it's logging all of those photos into a database that creates this massive kind of big data picture of where things are, when they're there, you know, how many all that kind of stuff,"Day told host Kathryn Marlow on CBC's All Points West.

Day said the photos captureiconic species lynx, wolverines, grizzlies and much smaller ones like butterflies andflowers. He noted that one couple entered photographs of a dragonfly speciesthat hadn't been seen in 40 years.

"B.C. has more biodiversity than anywhere in North America, probably anywhere in the wholetemperate zone, because we go from ocean to mountaintop and so it is like 13,000 species was something we found," he said.

"It's incredible what's out there when you slow down and you look."

Slowing down hastaken on new meaning sinceCOVID-19 spread across the globe several months ago.

Day says the pandemic actually helped with the challenge by showing two things: one, that humans are having a major impact on the planet especially considering the reports ofcleaner air, water, and wildlifereturning to places during the lockdown and two, the importance of nature to our lives.

"The pandemic showed usthat nature is parks in particular a part of our health-care system," he said. "We need it not only for every breath we take, but also because of our mental health ...I think just people have really learned to appreciate small things and to stop, to slow down, to smell the roses."

People can continue to contribute to the Big Nature Challenge by visiting www.naturechallenge.ca.