Chesapeake Bay Trust Releases First-Ever Mobile App Field Guide for Bay Watershed

ANNAPOLIS, Md., July 7 /PRNewswire/ -- The Chesapeake Bay Trust today released a first-of-its-kind mobile app field guide to the animals and plants of the Chesapeake Bay watershed. 

The Trust's Field Guide to the Chesapeake Bay is unlike any other mobile app on the market today.  Free and available initially to iPhone users, the new mobile app is a comprehensive, ecosystem-based guide to the flora and fauna of nine ecologically distinct regions within the Bay's watershed.  It provides comprehensive coverage of terrestrial vertebrates and deep, representative coverage of invertebrates and plants, based on a system of eco-regional geography, developed and published by the U.S. Forest Service's Robert Bailey.

Intended primarily for a lay audience of nature-enthusiasts, the guide's design and content selection maximize its accessibility and ease-of-use, so that users can easily find within the guide the wildlife they are most likely to encounter.   No other field guide can match the capabilities of this new mobile field guide.  (The mobile app also works on the iPad and iTouch.)

"We are pleased to offer this innovative mobile field guide, free of charge to our friends and supporters and, in fact, all residents of the Chesapeake Bay watershed and anyone who will be traveling, visiting or vacationing around the Chesapeake Bay watershed," stated Allen Hance, Executive Director of the Chesapeake Bay Trust.  "This is a great way to kick off the summer.  This Bay field guide will be a fun, educational companion for families, kids and nature-lovers on trips anywhere in the region and will provide instant, accurate, and visually compelling information about the natural treasures that the Bay watershed has to offer."  

The Field Guide to the Chesapeake Bay is among the most interactive of all the field guides on the market.  It provides bird calls, pinchable photos, range maps, identifiable characteristics of animals, and more.  It has advanced search functions and is designed to be visually appealing and user friendly.  

"This mobile field guide will put the Chesapeake Bay Trust in a strong position to take advantage of the rapidly emerging mobile Internet to reach a new generation of supporters and volunteers to advance our efforts to protect and restore the Bay," added Hance.  "And as more and more people gain a new appreciation for and ultimately become stewards of the Bay, the entire watershed has a better chance of becoming clean and healthy again."

The field guide was developed for the Chesapeake Bay Trust by eNature.com.  At the heart of this mobile app is eNature's comprehensive, geographically segmentable database of U.S. wildlife, both animals and plants.  

"With eNature's unsurpassed wildlife content base, we are able to create a mobile app guide uniquely capable of targeting specific regions and places so users can quickly identify and enjoy the wildlife they come across," stated Tom McGuire, eNature's President.  

The Field Guide to the Chesapeake Bay is available only through the Chesapeake Bay Trust.  

To get the Field Guide to the Chesapeake Bay Mobile App: visit www.cbtrust.org for a link or visit the Apple Appstore from your iPhone and search on Chesapeake Wildlife.  

SOURCE Chesapeake Bay Trust