ROSCOMMON COUNTY – Have you ever been going about your business outdoors and come across some plant, insect, or other wild thing and thought, “What is that?” If so, the BioBlitz is your game!
BioBlitzes provide a way to record biodiversity, the variety of wild things found in a given area. You don’t have to be an expert naturalist to participate—you just need an interest in nature and access to the internet to record your observations on the iNaturalist.org website. Dabblers of varied knowledge and scientists alike use iNaturalist to learn about and track biodiversity all over the world. The observations gathered during the Roscommon County Community BioBlitz will establish the beginnings of a catalog of the nature that makes Roscommon County a wonderland!
To participate, visit inaturalist.org and set up an account. Then join the Collection Project for your specific community: St. Helen Community BioBlitz, Houghton Lake and Prudenville Community, or Higgins Lake & Roscommon BioBlitz 2020. There is also a Collection Project for Gahagan Nature Preserve, the Gahagan Nature Nerds BioBlitz.
As observations within different communities are added, friendly competition will follow as participants will be able to see the catalog of Roscommon County’s biodiversity grow.
The Roscommon County Community BioBlitz is a community-wide citizen science project organized by MSU Extension, Roscommon County 4-H, and the Gahagan Nature Preserve. It is scheduled to run June 1 through Sept. 1, with the Gahagan Nature Nerds Collection Project continuing indefinitely. Participation is free and open to youth, families, and all residents of Roscommon County.
For more information, call the MSU Extension office
