Thankfully, a partner of ours, the Vermont Reptile and Amphibian Atlas, keeps track of such information and uses the data to help inform management decisions and conservation priorities for rare reptiles and amphibians in the area. If you believe you have found a Ribbonsnake in Vermont, the atlas would love to hear about it. And if you live somewhere else, perhaps the information will be equally valuable there; many states have herp atlases that would love to hear about your observations. Absent that, there are also citizen science apps such as iNaturalist and HerpMapper. You can also do a little research and look for other species local biologists would be excited to learn more about. The point here is that if you keep your eyes open and learn how to identify rare and unusual species to watch out for, you may be able to contribute very useful information to local conservation efforts. Even if you don’t find anything rare or unusual, reports of common species are also tremendously useful. And please, if at all possible, take pictures that show off those field marks! Reports can still be useful without photos, but for rare species that look similar to common ones, photos make the reports much more valuable.