Join the Santa Monica BioBlitz, May 31-June 1

May 28, 2019 2:26 PM
by Andrew Basmajian

For many of us who live and work in a city, we spend much of our time indoors in front of computer screens. It can be easy to forget that we live in a diverse ecosystem on the coast of the magnificent Pacific Ocean—a wilderness of unimaginable proportion. 

Where is nature in our community? All around us, we just have to look for it! Now, we have a chance to record what we see for science and help protect our plants and animals here at home.

On May 31 -June 1, Santa Monica is hosting its first ever BioBlitz—a crowd-sourced biological diversity survey where you record your observations and share your findings with your neighbors and the scientific community.  The idea behind the BioBlitz is to see how many individual species can be seen and identified within a predetermined time and geographical boundary.

Anyone can participate! Simply:

  1. Download the iNaturalist app or visit the website

         

  1. Create an account

  2. Take pictures of wild plants and animals in Santa Monica and upload them to iNaturalist.  

Feel free to add observations any time, but our goal is to get as many observations as we can during the citywide BioBlitz, May 31 -June 1!

A BioBlitz is a great way to get outside and connect with nature while contributing to the community and generating useful data for conservation. Collectively, through the observations of as many people as possible, we can highlight the incredible biodiversity in Santa Monica.

Visit iNaturalist for details.   If you have any questions, email makenna.brown@smgov.net

Authored By

Andrew Basmajian
Sustainable Outreach Coordinator