As someone who lives in a relatively rural county (apart from the medium-sized city that is the county seat), I would love to find more areas to explore, especially those with little data. However, the problem I am running into is I cannot simply drive down a dirt road and get out and take photos, as that might place me into approaching/entering private property (which I do not want to do).
Any ideas? There is no BLM/Public land near me either.
often, iāll just look at the map view of the Explore page to see where other folks are observing in my area:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=799,768,381,893,858,885,312,408&subview=map
if the map is looking cluttered, you can addtionally look at only observations with open geoprivacy:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=799,768,381,893,858,885,312,408&subview=map&taxon_geoprivacy=open&geoprivacy=open
sometimes, i use my own map page to look at observations since it provides the ability to toggle on and off various layers that i find useful:
https://jumear.github.io/stirfry/iNat_map?verifiable=true&place_id=799,768,381,893,858,885,312,408&geoprivacy=open&taxon_geoprivacy=open
one configuration of my map page that i sometimes use helps to show places that have relatively many (in red) or relatively few (in blue) observations of taxa that i havenāt yet observed:
https://jumear.github.io/stirfry/iNat_map?verifiable=true&place_id=799,768,381,893,858,885,312,408&geoprivacy=open&taxon_geoprivacy=open&unobserved_by_user_id=lafonlabs&view=subsetratio&compare_exclude_param=unobserved_by_user_id
I see that your observations are mainly across east Texas and Oklahoma, with a concentration in College Station. And yes, I see the problem ā Google Maps shows mostly farmland around there. The Sam Houston National Forest is the nearest significant expanse of public land, and there is a surprising lack even of wildlife refuges and State Parks. There are some Wildlife Management Areas further away, but I wouldnāt recommend those with hunting season coming on.
If there are outdoorsy people in your area ā maybe hunters or anglers ā you might try finding out where they go (in a general sense). They may know of public access places that arenāt well known outside that subculture.
The best way is to simply get out there, the more you cover the more likely you are to find a new cool place. Although you say there isnāt any public near you, and texas is especially bad for that, some researching will find you spots.
First off, donāt worry too much about puling over on dirt(or paved) roads, many of us naturalist do this all the time. While it is fully legal to use the shoulder of a road, just make sure to be safely away from traffic and that you wonāt get stuck trying to get back on the road. If I am going to take more than an hour I will sometimes leave a note in my windshield explaining what I am doing. If worried about safety/visibility or how you will be perceived consider wearing a high-vis vest/shirt.
One method is to go where others go, you can use alltrails and strava to find walking paths that might not be obvious. Your state might have a trail maintenance organization that publishes maps of trails (for example: https://www.wta.org/go-outside/map). Caltopo and open street maps often have walking paths marked, just make sure to check if the land is publicly accessible or get landowner permission. You can check who owns the land (in the usa) through your county property assesor/appraiser website which should have gis map property search feature.
You can find habitat maps/natural area inventories from state and national agencies, if there are unique/rare/endangered habitats try to see if you can access them, either on public land, roadside, or by talking with landowners. You can look at localities of herbaria collections, your state or region should have a herbarium with collections from the area, and most herbaria have websites that let you search specimens. Your county should have a parks webpage, and so should your state, make use of them.
Make other naturalist friends(or message/email), and gain knowledge of spots from them.
If you have access to a boat/kayak or other floating vehicle, most waterways in most states are public property (look into local laws) so exploring riverbanks can be a good way to get access.
Lastly if you are willing to break laws and trespass that opens up a whole new world to explore. But I wonāt be giving tips for that on this public forum :)ā¦
I just take pictures wherever I go, usually. If itās not an inherently nature based location, thereās often not any observations there or thereās very few, so I get to put it on the map. I also like to go through any old pictures I have and look for any observable life in them. Sometimes that ends up leading to new observations in areas with little to no observations too, but I also really just like to review old pictures and āoptimizeā them for my own personal enjoyment and satisfaction. Iām a bit of a ācompletionistā, so I like to be thorough and I get joy from that process and it fills my own personal map in.
I took a look at where most of your obs have been and I see lots of places I would try. I know Texas doesnāt have a lot of public land but I think there are options. Check the golf course. When I was in university I would photograph ducks on the golf course water traps in the morning. Nobody cared as long as I was gone before 8AM. The grounds around some of the medical facilities look like good spots as well. You seem to have a lot of them there. Iāll second @dgwdoesthings suggestion to look into the local waterways. Iāve seen videos of Texans fishing very small creeks and canals with public access.
Iād recommend the eBird hotspot explorer for a curated map of nature places to explore that works for most places in the world. It will have some bird-biased idiosyncracies, but probably covers a broader range of locations than more hiking-specific sources.
I lived in Texas for a few years, and yeah, for an enormous state, public land is depressingly hard to find. You will need to be willing to drive quite a bit to get to suitable places. Off hand, thereās a few places that I used to like visiting. Brazos Bend State Park is an excellent spot. They have walking trails around several ponds with alligators (be aware of your surroundings! First time visitors often find that the nearest alligator was much closer than they thought!). They also have an observatory associated with the Houston Museum of Natural Science that holds events fairly regularly. Enchanted Rock State Natural Area out in the Llano/Fredricksburg area was another nice spot (I used to go rock collecting nearby. That region is known for producing blue topaz). And if youāre looking for some long weekend trips, thereās Padre Island National Seashore along the Gulf or Big Bend Natāl Park. Both were on my bucket list, but I didnāt get to visit before I moved out of state.
Also, a general tip: use iNat to find places with clusters of observations in map view (you can filter for specific taxa or time of year). Many of the densest clusters will be in areas that lots of people visit, which can help highlight accessible areas. Check google maps and you can find out whether these areas are part of a state park or other type of publicly accessible land.
Iād look nearby on the map for places to goā¦ if there arenāt any obs in a place Iād go there just to fill a gap on the mapā¦ but you can also go in places where you see lots of obs so itās more likely to observe more.
Seconding Strava! I especially like looking at the heatmaps for hiking or cycling since itās a decent indicator of where folks are used to seeing people wandering around. Itās also helped me avoid a few ātrailsā that appear on maps but were functionally impassable.