If we don't keep a record of the past, how will we measure our successes or failures in the future?
Do you like photography and spending time outdoors? Photo monitoring may be the perfect volunteer opportunity for you! We need volunteers to take beautiful photos at specific locations 1 to 4 times during the year to document and track the progress of our restoration work. It allows for a fairly flexible schedule throughout the seasons and requires you to have a digital camera of your own.
If photo monitoring sounds fun to you, you can sign up for a park with just one photo point, or as many as 11 point. Or, if you’re really into it, you could sign up for more than one park! All you need is your cell phone or a digital camera, and a way to send the pictures to us via email or through online file sharing.
NAP will send you reminders at good times of year (generally spring and fall for most sites) to take pictures at your site(s). We’d also love to see any artistic photos of the specified areas for our photo archives. All the natural areas available for photo monitoring are areas in which we’re actively doing restoration. This can be a great project if you regularly visit a nearby park - just stick your camera in your pocket and do some volunteering while you’re there!
If you’d like to get involved, we have an annual Photo Monitoring Volunteer Kickoff in early spring. However, we’d be happy to get you started at other times of the year. Just give us a call! 734.794.6627 or email [email protected].
See full galleries of our photo points in our Photo Monitoring Web Map, or see below for a few example points!
Barton Nature Area - On the left, prior to restoration work, the site was becoming shrubby and overgrown. On the right, the prairie's coming back!
Cedar Bend through the ages. We were very lucky to receive a photo of how this looked once upon a time- it helps us see how far we've come!
Historically, with a herbaceous understory
In 1997, with many invasive shrubs
In 2006, during restoration
Gallup Park Youth Pond- on the left in 2004, the area adjacent to the pond is thick with invasive purple loosestrife. On the right in 2005, it's been removed!
