2023 Goals Update
Succeeded again in surpassing most of my goals for 2023, though I was unable to go to as many new countries and continents as I wanted , I was able to travel within the US a lot, which I'm very thankful for. Although it's difficult to get friends to coordinate schedules for international trips, I'm still hoping to get some new countries and a new continent on the board soon.
As of Dec 31 2022, I had observations in 62 NPS sites (closer to around 70 but some sites are not included in the umbrella on iNat). 38 National Wildlife Refuges, 33 US States, 11 Countries, and 4 continents (though South America through Aruba and Oceania through Hawaii are kind of dubious depending on who you ask)
Goals for 2023 were observations in:
5 new NPS sites:
Started at 62 at the end of 2023
Result: 8 new sites visited, observations at 7, but only 6 are under the NPS umbrella (Ice Age NST has not been added yet) - total of 68 with research grade observations in the umbrella
5 new National Wildlife Refuges:
Started at 38 at the end of 2023
Result: 12 new sites visited, 9 under the USFWS umbrella on iNat, 2 that have not been fully codified as refuges yet, and 1 wildlife management area that encompasses a large portion of waterways in southeast Wisconsin. - Total of 47 with research grade observations in the umbrella
2 new US states
Started at 33 at the end of 2023
Result: 2 new states visited, total of 35 with research grade observations
2 new countries
Started at 11 at the end of 2023
Result: 1 new country, total of 12 with research grade observations
1 new continent
Result: none added
and a total of 2100 Research Grade Observations
Started at 1816 at the end of 2023
Result: 606 new species to research grade for a total of 2422
New goals for 2024 are:
6 new NPS sites
6 new National Wildlife Refuges
3 new US states/territories
1 new country
2800 new species to research grade
Hoping to continue to add to my list, pulling back on some of the international goals, though I may still be able to exceed them, either way I'm excited for all the interesting new places I may see and observe new species in!
