Image: A misty morning on Missinaibi River, in Missinaibi Provincial Park.

Photo credit: Ontario Parks.

At five hundred and one kilometres in length, Missinaibi River’s size and location – entirely within Missinaibi Provincial Park, in a remote and rugged corner of Northeastern Ontario – presented a challenge for its river steward, Ontario Parks: How do you collect new life science information for the river with limited staff and resources?

The community science app, iNaturalist, can help with that!

Using the iNaturalist app, anyone can add an observation to Missinaibi Provincial Park’s iNaturalist Project. All you need to do is snap a photo or record a sound and upload it to the app. Once the observation is posted to the project, other iNaturalist users can suggest species identifications. Since anyone with a smartphone can participate, iNaturalist allows community members document life science information for Missinaibi River anytime they visit the park.

The Missinaibi Provincial Park iNaturalist Project – part of the overall Ontario Parks iNaturalist Project – was created in 2018. This means that the majority of its 1,890 observations occurred in the second decade of Missinaibi River’s Canadian Heritage River designation.  

As River Steward of this Canadian Heritage River, Ontario Parks is responsible for preparing a 10-year monitoring report for each decade in Missinaibi River’s tenure as a Canadian Heritage River. These reports provide an update on any changes and threats to the river’s recreational, cultural, and natural heritage values during the reporting decade. In 2025, Ontario Parks began preparing its second 10-year monitoring report on Missinaibi River for the 2015 to 2024 decade, and iNaturalist offered new insights.

Who lives in the park?

iNaturalist observations contributed life science information to the report in three ways:

1. Providing updated general information on the park’s variety of species

Over 500 different species have been observed in Missinaibi Provincial Park. Our report highlighted the top 15 most frequently observed fauna and flora; here we’re sharing the top five.

Top five most frequently observed fauna species:

1. Walleye (Sander vitreus) - 40 observations
2. Common Loon (Gavia immer) - 33 observations
3. Common Goldeneye (Bucephala clangula) - 30 observations
4. Evening Grosbeak (Hesperiphona vespertine, sometimes previously known as Coccothraustes vespertinus) - 29 observations
5. Red-spotted Admiral (Limenitis arthemis) - 23 observations

Image 1: Five Evening Grosbeaks sitting on and around a campsite firepit in Barclay Bay campground in Missinaibi Provincial Park on July 7, 2024.

Photo credit: Trent Massey, submitted as an iNaturalist Canada observation for the Missinaibi Provincial Park Project. No changes were made to the photo. Link to observation: https://inaturalist.ca/observations/229345330. Observation © Trent Massey. CC BY-NC 4.0. Copyright license information: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.

The Evening Grosbeak is an especially exciting species to see in the top five list because it is also a species at risk in Ontario.[1]

Top five most frequently observed flora species:

1. Eastern White Cedar (Thuja occidentalis) - 27 observations
2. Common Ninebark (Physocarpus opulifolius) - 25 observations
3. Northern Blue Flag (Iris versicolor) - 23 observations
4. Paper Birch (Betula papyrifera) - 22 observations
5. Orange Hawkweed (Pilosella aurantiaca)^[2] - 16 observations

Although the species most often observed in the park aren’t necessarily the most common ones living there, the range and frequency of sightings still offer up‑to‑date insight into what species inhabit the park.

2. Identifying species at risk observed in the park

Three species at risk in Ontario^[3] were observed in Missinaibi Provincial Park using iNaturalist:

• Evening Grosbeak (Hesperiphona vespertine or Coccothraustes vespertinus) - Special concern - 29 observations
• Lesser Yellowlegs (Tringa flavipes) - Threatened - 1 observation
• Black Ash (Fraxinus nigra) - Endangered - 5 observations

Image 2: A Lesser Yellowlegs standing on a rock on the marshy shoreline of The Narrows on Missinaibi Lake in Missinaibi Provincial Park on July 8, 2024.

Photo credit: Trent Massey, submitted as an iNaturalist Canada observation for the Missinaibi Provincial Park Project. No changes were made to the photo. Link to observation: https://inaturalist.ca/observations/229349516. Observation © Trent Massey. CC BY-NC 4.0. Copyright license information: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.

Updated information on species at risk that are present in the park helps Ontario Parks sustainably manage the river (and the park’s) natural heritage values, which include any rare and/or significant flora and fauna, like the Evening Grosbeak, Lesser Yellowlegs, and the Black Ash.

3. Adding new information on specific species previously reported in the park

New observations of these species help paint a stronger evidence-based picture of what species are present in the park, especially for rare species or species observed near the limits of their ranges.

For example, a new probable iNaturalist observation of Yellow Birch was made near Barclay Bay campground in 2022. Since this observation was made in a different location in the park than the previous one, there are now two probable observations of Yellow Birch in the park, which are among the most northern occurrences of the species in the province.

Every observation counts

The iNaturalist observations listed here show how community science initiatives can contribute to the sustainable management of recreational, cultural, and natural heritage values of a Canadian Heritage River. Each observation is another piece of data that, when combined with other research, works together to increase our knowledge of what specific values we’re protecting and generate ideas on how we can best protect those values.

What can iNaturalist tell you about your Canadian Heritage River?