National Parks BioBlitz 2016 needs your biodiversity expertise
To celebrate the National Park Service centennial—and a decade of partnership BioBlitzes between the National Park Service and National Geographic Society—a BioBlitz will take place at more than one hundred national parks across the country. Most of the BioBlitzes will be held over a two-day period during the weekend of May 20-21, 2016, and will pair scientists and naturalists with schoolchildren, community leaders, and the general public in quests to discover and document the biological treasures of our national parks.
Documenting biodiversity in the National Parks is a big job, and we need the help of SCB members to lead inventories and teach others how to identify organisms. No matter what your area of biodiversity expertise, we hope you will be able to find a way to get involved in BioBlitz. National Geographic made a short video to show what happens at a BioBlitz to help you find your niche. Even if you cannot participate in person, you can help identify the BioBlitz observations submitted to iNaturalist.org in real time.
The largest BioBlitz will be in Washington, D.C. at the same time as other regional showcase events in each of the National Park Service regions. Other parks are still signing up to host smaller BioBlitzes (check here for the latest list). Which park will have the most species identified during the BioBlitz? How many new species will be added to National Park Service databases? Will a new species be discovered? Please join us to find out! Register now as an expert for Washington, D.C. event or email us at bioblitz@ngs.org to let us know where you want to be involved.