Category Archives: Website

Changes to and comments about the Web site MinnesotaSeasons.com

2015: A year of growth at MinnesotaSeasons.com

Minnesota_Seasons_Logo_2015

2015 has been a year of growth at MinnesotaSeasons.com. We have had 1,170,684 page views in 2015 generated by 709,481 unique visitors. December was the best month ever with a total of 100,147 page views by 52,760 unique visitors.

Over the year contributors have uploaded 306 new photos bringing the total to 694 photos uploaded by 58 contributors.

We have added 167 new species and 14 new destinations, bringing the total to 1,332 species and 371 destinations.

http://minnesotaseasons.com/

MinnesotaSeasons.com Redesign Completed

After almost nine months the redesign of MinnesotaSeasons.com was finally completed on October 10, 2014.

Redesign_01m

  • All species and destination pages are now tabbed, reducing page length and allowing the visitor to focus on their interest.
  • Thumbnail images have been replaced with much larger preview images.
  • Full size photos are now presented in a light box, not on a separate page.
  • A new Video tab has been added to every species and destination page. The embedded videos are from YouTube, from other sources, and from visitors to MinnesotaSeasons.com (you).
  • A slide show has been added to every destination page.
  • All species pages now include IUCN Conservation status and NatureServe Conservation status.
  • All plant pages also include wetland indicator status, if assigned; and weed status, if appropriate.
  • All species and destination pages include links to allow visitors (you) to upload photos, videos, species sightings, and observations.

http://www.minnesotaseasons.com/index.html

Destinations Now Include Videos

Many of the Destination pages at MinnesotaSeasons.com now include one or more videos. So far, there are 96 videos of 66 destinations. Most of those were shot at state parks. While a few were professionally made, most were created by visitors.

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http://www.minnesotaseasons.com/Destinations/Camden_State_Park.html

Have you made a video of a trip to a park or other natural area in Minnesota? Share it with others on MinnesotaSeasons.com. Simply click on the Upload Video or the Upload Photo or Video button on any destination page, then attach the video, or a link to the video, to the e-mail form that pops up.

EDDMapS Location Data Added

MinnesotaSeasons.com distribution maps for plants  have been updated to include location data from Early Detection and Distribution Mapping System (EDDMapS).

EDDSMapS“EDDMapS is a web-based mapping system for documenting invasive species distribution… EDDMapS combines data from other databases and organizations as well as volunteer observations to create a national network of invasive species distribution data.”

EDDMapS lists 394 species in Minnesota. Not all the listed plants are a problem in Minnesota, but all of them are exotic to the U.S. and are listed as a problem somewhere in the U.S. Distribution maps for listed plants that appear on MinnesotaSeasons,com now include EDDSMapS observations.

Russian olive

Russian olive

Plant Distribution Maps Updated

In May 2013 the Minnesota DNR updated MNTaxa: The State of Minnesota Vascular Plant Checklist. It is now available on the DNR Website. It contains a statewide distribution by county map for each species listed. For the past four weeks I have been updating all plant distribution maps to include the MNTaxa data as well as data from the Bell Museum of Natural History Herbarium, Flora of Minnesota, Specimen Database.

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The project was completed today. All 786 plant distribution maps have been updated.

Range_snow_trilliumSnow Trillium