Comic Sans MSForwarded from Steve Witmer, City of Johnston, Polk County: "Steven Witmer" <<[log in to unmask]> 0000,0000,0000 I’m contacting you to let you know a possible training opportunity.  NatureMapping is a citizen-based volunteer wildlife monitoring program.  NatureMapping volunteers monitor at times and locations of their choosing (which can include anywhere from parks to roadsides to their own backyard) and report sightings of species encountered.  NatureMapping can be done on an individual basis or as part of a concerted effort by a group. The NatureMapping program (http://www.extension.iastate.edu/naturemapping/homepage.html is the home website) is in the process of scheduling training workshops across the state and is seeking locations to hold workshops and groups of interested potential participants to take the training.  The training takes about 6 hours on a Saturday.  Registration per person is $30. If enough folks are interested, I will contact the coordinator for the NatureMapping program and see what the possibilities are for scheduling a training here in Johnston or elsewhere nearby. One of the reasons NatureMapping was developed was to allow communities to gather natural resource information that may be useful for long-term community planning.  Apart from the training itself, as I said before the demands on the volunteer are minimal  - volunteers monitor when and where they wish and report their data online, and it would be up to the individual (or group) to determine how much time and effort they want to dedicate.   Please let me know as soon as possible if you would have an interest.  If it looks like there is enough interest to justify scheduling a workshop in this area, I will get in contact with Jason about setting one up.