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Three thousand people explored the Louisiana swamps during BioBlitz last weekend, but an exhibit in town reveals the deep roots of the naturalist tradition in New Orleans.
Veronica Del Bianco of the Natural Leaders Network reveals the special way BioBlitz strengthens the bond between children and nature.
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Part scientific endeavor, part festival and part outdoor classroom, the BioBlitz hosted last week by the U.S. National Park Service and the National Geographic Society in Louisiana’s Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve yielded hundreds of observations, including the discovery of a rare Louisiana milk snake not previously recorded in the park. “This is the first time anyone has done this level of work on a bottomland, hardwood, freshwater system like this,” said Victoria Bayless, curator at the Louisiana State Arthropod Museum.
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How do you close a BioBlitz in the swamp outside New Orleans? For starters, you’re going to need a marching band…
Renaissance-era flag throwers, a medieval castle, and lush wetlands set the scene for BioBlitz Italia, a world away from BioBlitz in Louisiana happening at the same time this weekend.
Prowling by night, feral hogs are spreading fast in Jean Lafitte National Park in southern Louisiana.
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Pulling off a National Geographic BioBlitz involves a lot of people: park rangers, scientist volunteers, thousands of K-12 students, a lot of curious visitors, and online observers. And it is an all-hands-on-deck kind of event—using technology we are able to crowd source the identification of species, so specialists and naturalists not at the park can…
Hundreds of local grade school students joined scores of scientists today in the Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve to look for as many species of plants and animals as they can find in 24 hours. It is the seventh annual BioBlitz organized by the National Park Service and the National Geographic Society, forming…
Whether a tiny invertebrate or a large, invasive nutria, all of the species observations collected during the BioBlitz will be mapped out and visualized on the National Geographic FieldScope tool. FieldScope is a web-based GIS for visualizing and analyzing scientific data collected by professional and citizen scientists. It is also a tool for exploring the geography of a place.
The annual BioBlitz hosted by the National Park Service and the National Geographic Society is underwritten in part by the Harold M. and Adeline S. Morrison Family Foundation, a private grant-making philanthropy based in Chicago. Every year for five years the Morrison Family Foundation helps make the event possible. And every year the foundation’s executive director, Lois Morrison, participates in the BioBlitz with her husband Justin Daab and their daughters Josephine and Addie Daab.
News Watch interviewed Lois Morrison about her passion for both nature and education, and why she sees the BioBlitz as a special opportunity to reinforce our connection with the natural world.
Michael Conway of the Arizona Geological Survey was on hand at the recent BioBlitz in Arizona’s Saguaro National Park to teach students, scientists, and bloggers about something many of us don’t readily associate with a 24-hour inventory of all the species we could find in the preserve: the rocks and soil. To get a better…
Meg Quinn, of Pima County Natural Resources, Parks and Recreation, talked to me at the recent BioBlitz in the Saguaro National Park about the scourge that’s blighting much of the Sonoran Desert of Arizona — a tough alien grass that’s taken hold and threatening the native ecosystem.
Margi Brooks of the National Natural Landmarks Program was on hand at the recent BioBlitz in Saguaro National Park to promote an extensive system of natural heritage preservation that not many Americans know about. The National Natural Landmarks Program was started in 1962, so getting ready to celebrate its 50th anniversary, Brooks told me. It’s…
Kevin FitzPatrick is a wildlife conservation photographer who specializes in shooting BioBlitzes. I found him at the 2011 BioBlitz in the Saguaro National Park, Arizona, where he told me why he has developed a passion for documenting the special species count in our national parks.
The University of Arizona mascot is the Wild Cat, or bobcat, so it is only fitting that the university is involved in research and conservation initiatives for the benefit of wild cats all over the world. “Our mission is to conserve and research all 36 species of wild cats worldwide,” Lisa Haynes, of the University…
