When I heard we had cracked a million I felt like I was part of something really big
In the summer of 2020, two hikers in British Columbia's Fraser Valley encountered sixteen Grapple-tail Dragonflies — a red-listed species unseen for forty years — while participating in the BC Parks Foundation's Big Nature Challenge. Their discovery arrived as over a million ordinary citizens turned their phones and cameras toward the natural world, collectively surpassing an ambitious observation goal and demonstrating that attentiveness, practiced at scale, can become a form of conservation. In an era when global wildlife populations have fallen by nearly two-thirds in half a century, this initiative offered a quiet but meaningful reminder: to look carefully at the living world is already to begin protecting it.
- A dragonfly species feared lost for four decades reappeared in a provincial park, spotted not by scientists but by two hikers with cameras — a discovery that reframed who gets to do science.
- The Big Nature Challenge set a target of one million observations across British Columbia, and the race to reach it galvanized schools, outdoor clubs, retailers, and everyday residents throughout a year already defined by a search for meaning outdoors.
- With wildlife populations in global freefall and extinction feeling abstract and unstoppable, the challenge gave participants something concrete — a photograph, an upload, a small act of witness that counted.
- Researchers at three universities are now mining the data to map biodiversity across B.C.'s park system, with plans to layer it against satellite imagery to guide future conservation decisions.
- The million-observation milestone has been crossed, but the Foundation is pressing forward — every new sighting adds to a living record that will shape how protected lands are understood and managed for generations.
Last July, two hikers in the Fraser Valley spotted something extraordinary: sixteen Grapple-tail Dragonflies moving through Davis Lake Provincial Park near Mission. The species had not appeared in any record for forty years. They were there because of the BC Parks Foundation's Big Nature Challenge — an initiative launched in 2020 inviting British Columbians to document the natural world using nothing more than phones and cameras.
The Challenge had set an ambitious goal of one million observations province-wide. By late September, the count stood near 945,000. A month later, it had been surpassed. Each observation — a backyard bird, an unfamiliar flower, a dragonfly at a lake's edge — represented a small, deliberate act of attention. Dr. Andrew Day, CEO of the BC Parks Foundation, called the milestone evidence of something deeper than a successful campaign: proof that people acting together could make a genuine difference, while gaining something personal in return.
The Grapple-tail's reappearance carried particular weight. Classified as red-listed by the BC Conservation Data Centre — a designation reserved for species at serious risk of extinction — its rediscovery suggested that protecting wild spaces still mattered, and that ordinary people could be the ones to prove it. More than 250,000 of the million observations came from within provincial parks, giving researchers at Simon Fraser University, the University of Victoria, and the Hakai Institute a detailed new picture of what these spaces actually contain. That data may eventually be combined with satellite imagery to model landscape change and guide park management decisions.
For Vancouver resident Alyssa Reyes, hearing that the million mark had been crossed felt like a breakthrough. The Challenge had drawn in Girl Guides, the Alpine Club of Canada, and outdoor retailers like Arc'teryx — a coalition of the curious. In a moment when global wildlife populations have declined by an average of 68 percent over fifty years, it offered something rare: a way to look closely at the world and know that the looking itself was part of the solution.
On a summer hike through the Fraser Valley last July, two British Columbians spotted something that hadn't been seen in four decades: sixteen Grapple-tail Dragonflies, their bodies catching the light as they moved across Davis Lake Provincial Park near Mission. The sighting was remarkable not just for its rarity, but for what it represented—evidence that ordinary people with cameras and phones, acting together, could contribute to genuine scientific discovery.
These hikers were part of something larger than themselves. The BC Parks Foundation had launched the Big Nature Challenge earlier in 2020, inviting British Columbians to document the natural world around them during a year when many were seeking reasons to venture outdoors. The goal was ambitious: one million observations. By late September, the province was closing in on 945,000. A month later, the target had been shattered. Over one million sightings had been recorded across British Columbia, each one a small act of attention—a photograph of an unfamiliar flower, a bird at a backyard feeder, a dragonfly at a provincial park.
The Grapple-tail Dragonfly discovery carried particular weight. The species is classified as red-listed by the BC Conservation Data Centre, a designation reserved for organisms at serious risk of extinction. Its reappearance after four decades of absence suggested that careful observation and protection of wild spaces still mattered. Dr. Andrew Day, CEO of the BC Parks Foundation, framed the million-observation milestone as evidence of something deeper than a successful public campaign. "It shows the power of people acting together to make a difference," he said. Each participant, he noted, gained something personal—the satisfaction of being outside, of contributing—while joining what he called a global movement to observe and understand life on earth.
The data being collected was not merely symbolic. Over 250,000 of the million observations came from within provincial parks themselves, creating a detailed record of what these protected spaces actually contain. Researchers from Simon Fraser University, the University of Victoria, and the Hakai Institute were analyzing this information to develop a clearer picture of biodiversity across B.C.'s park system. The long-term implications were significant: this data could eventually be layered with satellite imagery and other technologies to model how landscapes were changing and to inform decisions about how parks should be managed in the future.
The challenge drew participation from Girl Guides, the Alpine Club of Canada, outdoor retailers like Arc'teryx, and dozens of other organizations. For Alyssa Reyes, a Vancouver resident who took part, the moment the million-observation milestone was announced felt like a breakthrough. "When I heard we had cracked a million I felt like I was part of something really big," she said. In a moment when global wildlife populations have declined by an average of 68 percent over the past fifty years, when extinction and climate change can feel overwhelming, the Big Nature Challenge offered something concrete: a way to look closely at the world, to document it, and to know that the looking itself was part of the solution.
As British Columbians continue to explore their provincial parks in the months ahead, the Foundation is encouraging them to keep uploading observations. The data they collect will shape how these protected areas are understood and managed for generations to come.
Notable Quotes
It shows the power of people acting together to make a difference. Each person who participates gets to feel good about being outside and about giving something back.— Dr. Andrew Day, CEO of BC Parks Foundation
When it comes to species extinction and climate change, it's easy to feel hopeless, but this is something concrete anyone can do to build community and understanding of the natural world.— Alyssa Reyes, Vancouver resident and Big Nature Challenge participant
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
What made this particular dragonfly sighting so significant? There are rare species everywhere.
The Grapple-tail hadn't been documented in British Columbia for forty years. When those two hikers found sixteen of them in a single day, it wasn't just a curiosity—it was evidence that a species people thought might be gone was still there, still surviving. That matters for conservation.
But one sighting doesn't mean the species is saved, does it?
No, it doesn't. But it changes what we know. It tells researchers where to look, what habitat to protect. And it happened because two people were paying attention and had a way to report what they saw.
So the real story is about the million observations, not the dragonfly?
They're inseparable. The dragonfly is the proof that the system works. A million observations sounds abstract until you realize one of them revealed something that had been invisible for forty years.
Why did the BC Parks Foundation set that goal in 2020 specifically?
The pandemic. People were stuck at home, anxious, looking for reasons to go outside. The Foundation gave them a purpose—not just to walk, but to document, to contribute to something larger than themselves.
And now what happens with all that data?
It's being analyzed by university researchers to understand what's actually in B.C.'s parks. Eventually, they want to combine it with satellite imagery to track how landscapes are changing. It becomes a tool for making better decisions about which areas need protection.