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Bio-Blitz
June 14, 5:00 pm – June 15th, 5:00 pm
Coldwater Spring, 5601 Minnehaha Park Drive South, Minneapolis, MN
BioBlitz is a 24-hour survey in which the public helps scientists find all the plants and animals at a specific location. Part contest, part festival, part educational event and part scientific endeavor, Minnesota BioBlitz brings together scientists from across the state in a race against time!
Each year, BioBlitz attracts dozens of families and scientists from around the state who use sonar detectors, bug lights, live traps and laptops to count and chronicle an area's flora and fauna. BioBlitz 2013 will take place at Coldwater Spring, which the National Park Service is restoring to an oak savanna prairie natural space. Since late 2011, the National Park Service demolished a dozen abandoned Bureau of Mines buildings and has been restoring the property to a natural green space. This BioBlitz will provide a crucial baseline of information about the varieties of fish, fungi, insects, birds, and plants living within the 92 acres of Coldwater and surrounding parkland and riverfront.
Volunteers of all ages and skill levels can take part, working alongside scientists to collect plants and insects and live-trap animals, which are identified before being released back into the wild.
Friday Night, June 14th
5 p.m.-dusk Scientists set up and begin surveying
8 p.m. Evening animal survey – bats and frogs
9 p.m. Dragonfly walk
9 p.m. -11 p.m. Evening insect collecting
Saturday June 15th
6 a.m. - 8 a.m. Birding Hike
8 a.m. Mammal Survey - small mammals
9 a.m. Fungi Survey –- Attention MMS members!!!
10 a.m. Fish Survey
11 a.m. Water Walk
Noon - 1 p.m. Lunch Break for Scientists!!
1 p.m. Walk with a Ranger
2 p.m. Dragonfly Survey
4 p.m. - 5 p.m. Species Identification & number countdown!
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