Don’t forget to bring your smartphone the next time you trek into nature.
No, you don’t need your mobile device to text friends or check in on Facebook, but it will let you learn about the environment at the Lisha Kill Nature Preserve as you take in the scenery.
The Nature Conservancy’s Eastern New York Chapter on Thursday, June 14, unveiled its new bilingual audio tour offered at Lisha Kill in Niskayuna with a ribbon cutting, as state and local officials, along with residents, saw technology being wed with nature.
“One of the challenges for the environmental movement is to attract a younger audience and we noticed that with the youth of today many of them are connected to their phones,” spokeswoman for the conservancy Ellen Weiss said, “so if we could bring that technology into the preserve we might bring them into the preserve as well.”
Accessing the audio tours requires a smartphone, such as an iPhone, or any other device able to scan QR codes and allow you to follow the link to a webpage. The QR codes allow visitors to access a self-guided audio tour, which is available in English or Spanish.
The QR codes, which are square with a black and white pattern, are posted on trail signs along the 1.5-mile pathway. There are nine trail signs, each numbered to the corresponding audio segment, and each segment is around 1 minute and 20 seconds long.
The audio tour includes facts about the preserve’s history, local geology, hydrology, flora and fauna.
“We chose Lisha Kill because it is one of our flagship preserves and it is used by a lot of local residents, as well as we often see people from the local businesses taking their lunch hour there,” Weiss said. “We wanted to put the technology at a destination that we know gets a lot of foot traffic and a diverse foot traffic.”
Troy Weldy, director of Ecological Management for the Conservancy, said the Lisha Kill isn’t a true old growth forest because the trees had been cut before. While it isn’t a “virgin forest,” he said it is considered an old growth forest because many trees haven’t been cut for 200 to 300 years.
Weldy said one of his favorite plants in the 140-acre preserve is the ostrich fern, which can grow to be 6 feet tall.
“It makes it seem like you are in a tropical forest or some type of ancient forest when you have these ferns that are towering above most people,” he said.
He added the audio tour could be a good way for the young and old to connect in nature.
“We are also hoping that this is an opportunity for grandparents to take their grandchildren out and get them interested in the environment,” he said.
Doing an audio tour, as opposed to reading an informational sign, has proved to be more cost effective, too.
“There is more that we are able to share through an audio guide than we can through any of our print media,” Weldy said. “Frankly, it is cheaper than producing a lot of signs and it is less intrusive on the environment.”
Tom Alworth, deputy commissioner of Natural Resources for the state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, said the state unfortunately doesn’t have the ability to staff naturalists at the preserves, but the audio tour is the next best thing.
“There is no substitute for that kind of personal instruction, however, new technologies are an absolute must,” Alworth said in a statement. “The Nature Conservancy has jumped out in front on this. We are looking at how we can harness the power of this technology for environmental education at parks throughout New York State.”
Niskayuna Supervisor Joe Landry also praised the audio tour addition.
“I’m all for anything that gets our children and adults active and getting them out on the trail,” Landry said. “Not only now can you enjoy nature, but you can be educated as you do it.”