Welcome!
About Naturedigger
Learn, Participate, Conserve has been the foundation of Naturedigger since I started this journey over twelve years ago. My mission has, and always will be, to educate the public about our natural world by offering free monarch education and support through my website. I suggest opportunities to participate in community science (also called citizen science) data collection, because I know hands-on involvement leads to more engaged nature enthusiasts, and ultimately, conservationists.
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I hope my personal commitment to providing free, quality, nature education will create a new generation of enthusiastic naturalists and community scientists, who share one very important goal:
to conserve our natural world and spread the word.
Founder
Naturedigger's founder, Tara Johnson, is an environmental scientist, Certified California Naturalist and avid birder. Throughout her 25-year career, she has been employed in both private and public sectors, where she conducted wetland delineations, monitoring and replications, as well as functions and values assessments, endangered species surveys, relocations and education.​
She promotes community science programs, because she has been involved in numerous projects herself and understands the importance of community involvement. She has participated in annual bird counts for over 20 years, tracked California condors at Pinnacles National Park, and volunteered for many years to educate and train community members to identify, monitor and collect data on aquatic invasive species. ​
Since 2014, Tara's primary focus has been on monarch butterfly and milkweed education, conservation and community involvement. For the past several years, she has been writing A Guide to the Anatomy and Life Cycle Stages of Monarch Butterflies. This resource will be used by community scientists to submit more accurate data to monarch conservation organizations.
Naturedigger has been a partner of the Monarch Joint Venture since 2016.
