[Pollinator] FW: NPS Centennial Event and Opportunity Next May

[Kelly Rourke]

*From:* Leslie, Elaine [mailto:elaine_leslie at nps.gov]
*Sent:* Wednesday, November 04, 2015 10:11 AM
*Subject:* NPS Centennial Event and Opportunity Next May

Dear Colleagues

I hope this note finds you well.  As way of a short background-some of us
have been working on pollinator conservation efforts and some on citizen
science-many opportunities for collaboration!

I want to let you know about an exciting event that will be taking
place May 20-21, 2016. To celebrate the Centennial of the National Park
Service and the biodiversity of this nation, we will be hosting the first
ever National BioBlitz in parks across the country-hopefully all 408 of
them! This BioBlitz quest will be to discover living organisms through
public involvement; during these rapid biological surveys-we are looking
forward to scientists and volunteers of all ages and backgrounds to work
together to compile an inventory of biological resources. The National
BioBlitz will consist of:

   - A major BioBlitz, co-hosted by NPS and the National Geographic
   Society, at NPS sites in and around Washington, D.C., with an accompanying
   Biodiversity Festival on the National Mall at Constitution Gardens
   (thousands of school children and American public are expected to
   participate);
   - Large simultaneous BioBlitzes occurring in identified host parks in
   different regions of our country—the “Regional Showcase BioBlitzes;”
   - Hundreds of concurrent BioBlitzes of different sizes and scopes taking
   place in national park sites, or refuges or other lands and waters across
   the United States.

This two-day event will center around a 24-hour inventory period, in which
teams of scientists, teachers, children, and other community members will
work together on a series of different inventories to identify as many
species as possible. One primary data collection tool for all BioBlitzes
will be a digital application hosted by the California Academy of Sciences
called “iNaturalist” http://www.inaturalist.org and information from all
events across the country will be rolled up and broadcast on the National
Mall. We will also be working with our inventory and monitoring networks
across the country to ensure that quality data is collected, archived and
then obviously, utilized. At the end of the National BioBlitz, we hope to
have documented thousands of species in different taxonomic groups and
engaged tens of thousands of public participants in our national parks.
Other large components of these efforts are education and outreach.

In past events, we have documented new species to parks and even new
species to science, all the while creating a new generation of stewards of
our nation's natural heritage and cadre of citizen scientists.

I would like to invite you to become involved and join in this national
effort! We will need hundreds of scientists (in DC or elsewhere across the
country) who will lend their time and knowledge in leading public
inventories (in their areas of expertise), conduct an educational walk or
hike or session, or your organization may consider hosting a booth with
hands-on learning activities at the Biodiversity Festival.

If you are interested in participating, or if you would like additional
information, please contact: Sally Plumb, NPS Biodiversity Coordinator, at
970 267-2180, sally_plumb at nps.gov or myself. Please help us reach your
colleagues by spreading the word far and wide. This could be an opportunity
to increase citizen science stewardship and engagement throughout the
country and develop models, tools, and metrics for use in many
applications.  We are open to ideas and collaborations!

Thank you very much and we look forward to hearing from you soon.

Have a great day!

Elaine



Elaine F. Leslie

Chief, Biological Resources

Natural Resource Stewardship and Science

National Park Service

970 267-2135
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