Amateur and professional naturalists alike will gather in the East Bay later this month for another bioblitz in an ongoing series that has been sweeping the region.
On Saturday, July 25, a group of scientists, outdoors enthusiasts, and general curiosity seekers will gather in Contra Costa County on the southern bank of the San Joaquin River in an effort to catalog as many living species as they can in a section of the Antioch Dunes National Wildlife Refuge. The refuge is home to the last known populations of the endangered Antioch Dunes evening primrose, the Contra Costa wallflower, and the Lange’s metalmark butterfly, among myriad other flora and fauna. In order to inventory the site’s biodiversity, the group will use the smartphone application iNaturalist, as well as cameras, binoculars, magnifying glasses, and bug boxes.
Coordinated by the community science organization Nerds for Nature, the event is free and open to any member of the public over the age of 12. It begins with an orientation at 8:30 a.m., and runs from 9 to 11:30 a.m. in the refuge’s Stamm Unit. A wrap-up session follows from noon to 1 p.m. in the nearby Antioch Public Library.
To read more about Bay Area bioblitzes, check out coverage from the June/July 2014 Bay Area Monitor (“Blitzing the Biome: Nature Lovers Team up for Ecological Inventories” on page 2).