Join the park staff to help document as many of the plants and animals that live at the Gatewood Preserve in 8 hours. Participants will explore the park and photograph and upload their finds into iNaturalist, the world's largest biodiversity study. Arrive anytime between 9 am and 5pm, and stay as long or as little as you like.
Staff will be on hand to assist and offer tips to using the app from 9am to noon and 2pm to 5pm.
Participants will need a phone or digital camera to participate. Ages 15 and under will need an accompanying adult to participate.
You will use iNaturalist to photograph and map your observations in a few easy steps.
How you can participate:
- Join iNaturalist. It's easy...https://www.inaturalist.org/signup
- Join our Parks for Pollinators project: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/parks-for-pollinators-2025-calvert-county
- Throughout September make observations of pollinators and flowering plants
This is a self-directed Opportunity--for the most part, you will explore on your own. Staff will be on hand to assist and offer tips to using the app from 9am to noon and 2pm to 5pm.
Purpose
Our goals for the Parks for Pollinators BioBlitz are to engage our Calvert community in pollinator awareness and education while also collecting national pollinator data.
Any observations of pollinators* and flowering plants you make in Calvert County throughout September will automatically be added to our iNaturalist project: iNaturalist projects: Parks for Pollinators: 2025 Calvert County
For Further Information Contact: Karyn Molines, Karyn.Molines@calvertcountymd.gov
How you will benefit...
- Having fun and being inspired to enjoy the natural world and contribute to its conservation
- Developing an understanding of local wildlife and habitats
- Gaining first-hand experience of how biological recording works
- Developing wildlife identification skills alongside communication and teaching skills
- Becoming more aware of wildlife and conservation in local community
- Being encouraged to continue recording wildlife sightings after the event
Pollinators
For the Parks for Pollinator BioBlitz, we are focusing on:
- Butterfly and Moths
- Ants, Bees, Wasps and Sawflies
- Flies
- Beetles
- Hummingbirds
These will be the taxa that feed up into the national Parks for Pollinators BioBlitz campaign.
What is a BioBlitz?
‘Bio’ means ‘life’ and ‘Blitz’ means ‘to do something quickly and intensively’. Together they make ‘BioBlitz’ — a collaborative effort to discover as many species as possible within a set location during a defined time period.
A BioBlitz usually comprises a group of scientists, naturalists, parks staff and other members of the public working together. As an informal and fun way to create a snapshot of the variety of life found in an area, these events provide an opportunity for participants to learn together and share their expertise and enthusiasm for nature. BioBlitzes make engaging with science easy and fun while raising awareness about the role of biological recording. It also gives the public an opportunity to contribute to a genuine scientific survey. A BioBlitz can be carried out anywhere there is wildlife, including urban and rural areas, or inland and coastal locations.
What is the Parks for Pollinators BioBlitz?
The Parks for Pollinators BioBlitz is a national effort for people to find and document pollinator friendly plants and pollinators across the country in partnership with their local park and recreation agency. It’s a national campaign to see who can make the most observations, engage the most people and promote pollinator awareness and education. The results not only make an impact for awareness of pollinators nationally and for those that participate, but also helps agencies know what pollinator species are in their parks and helps them plan for how to protect them.
The Parks for Pollinators BioBlitz is organized by the National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA) with support from The Scotts Miracle-Gro Foundation.
