About the Project
BioBlitz is a 24-hour event in which teams of scientists, volunteers, and community members join forces to find, identify, and learn about as many local plant and animal species as possible. National Geographic is helping conduct a BioBlitz in a different park each year throughout the decade leading up to the U.S. National Park Service centennial in 2016.The next annual National Geographic-National Park Service BioBlitz takes place in 2009 at the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore.
Read all about it on our blog!
The 2008 BioBlitz was held in the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area May 30 and 31 in collaboration with the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy and California State Parks.
In 2007, National Geographic hosted the Rock Creek Park BioBlitz in Washington, D.C. Teams made up of biologists, families, school groups, youth groups, conservationists, and government leaders spent 24 hours combing the city's urban park. They found and identified 661 unique species in the park, plus several that have not yet been identified.
Project Goals
Project founders organized BioBlitz as a way for communities to learn about the biological diversity of local parks and to better understand how to protect them. BioBlitz events give adults, kids, and teens the opportunity to join biologists in the field, participate in bona fide research expeditions, and learn from the experts about biodiversity—both around the planet and in our own backyards. |
