Get your Citizen Scientists on : put your smartphone habit to good use at Bioblitz 2017

Friday, July 29th 8am-10pm
Saturday, July 30th, 9:30am – 5:30pm
Woodstock, NY

Presented by the Woodstock Land Conservancy together with the Catskill Center, Bioblitz 2017 will pair scientists and expert naturalists with normal people to study and document the current state of biodiversity at the Thorn Preserve in Woodstock, NY.

The beautiful 60-acre Thorne Preserve contains various habitats: a stream, a pond, wetlands, forest, and open mead- ow habitats. Participants can expect to learn about life in the stream, birds, trees, wildflowers, reptiles and amphibi- ans, butterflies, wild and domestic bees,  invasive plants and various soils.

Scheduled events include a bird walk, an introduction to the smartphone app, Inaturalist and Friday’s explorations will continue after dark — hello bats and owls!

At 2016’s event, over 280 species were identified at the preserve.

Participation is free, no experience is necessary and citizen scientists of all ages are welcome, but please, dogs must stay at home.

A base camp tent will be on site as a place to gather, relax, discuss finds and compile data, peruse guide books and collaborate.

Biodiversity is the diversity of life within a given area. It is a powerful indicator of environmental quality. An ecosystem under any kind of stress, such as pollution or habitat fragmentation, will show a drop in biodiversity.

Data collected at the BioBlitz will be used to study the changes that occur at the Catskill Center’s Thorn Preserve and to make thoughtful management decisions to preserve the biodiversity of the habitat.

Advance training to become a citizen scientist and help scientists record data or take photos at the BioBlitz are scheduled for two dates in July (both are optional and free) at the Thorn Preserve: Wednesday July 19, 2017 at 6pm and Saturday July 22, 2017 at 10am.

Thorn Preserve 55 John Joy Road
Woodstock, NY 12498

Rain date is July 30, 2017.

Visit thornpreservebioblitz.com for the complete schedule and to sign up (optional) or contact Georgia Asher at gkasher@gmail.com