Lands & Legacy 2022: BioBlitz

Eastern Sierra Land Trust is inviting you to participate in collecting scientific observations in a Citizen Science BioBlitz event! We are excited to get onto the land with you as part of our 21st Anniversary Lands & Legacy Celebration. Local art prizes are available to community members who participate – scroll to the bottom of this page to read more. 

What is a BioBlitz?

A BioBlitz is a community science event that brings together people of all ages to observe nature. It’s kind of like a flash mob for identifying and counting species. Community members get together outside and use iNaturalist to document the plants, birds, insects, reptiles, and other life that they find. BioBlitzes can contribute useful data that scientists can learn from. They are also a fun opportunity for our community to come together and learn about nature. 

Event details (in-person and DIY)

This BioBlitz has an in-person and DIY option. ESLT will have an in-person event on Sunday, August 21st from 8am-10am. We will meet at the Bishop Paiute Reservation Conservation Open Space Area (COSA). The COSA is 24.8 acres of wetlands and walking paths that have been set aside by the Bishop Paiute Tribe for conservation, learning, recreation and science. There is plenty of parking next to the Bishop BLM and National Forest offices behind the DMV. We will meet by the gate to the COSA at the back of the parking area (North end). There are no restrooms in the COSA, but there is a gas station with facilities close to our meeting spot. Coffee and pastries will be provided.

A map link to the meeting location for the BioBlitz is here.

If you can’t join us in Bishop that morning, you can still join in the fun with ESLT’s DIY Backyard BioBlitz! Get outside on your own and record your observations. Whether you’re in your backyard or the backcountry, we want to know what you find.

For both the In-Person COSA BioBlitz and the DIY Backyard BioBlitz, you will need to make an account with iNaturalist. Don’t worry– you won’t need to identify all of your observations! The great thing about iNaturalist is that it’s an online community of scientists and nature lovers. Other users (as well as the app) can help you ID your finds!

How to use iNaturalist

To learn more about iNaturalist and how to use it, please watch these tutorials or read the instructions at the bottom of this page.

To Join ESLT’s BioBlitz Project on the iNaturalist App, search for “2022 ESLT BioBlitz.”

RSVP for the in-person BioBlitz

Although registration is not required to attend, we would appreciate an RSVP. Please email Claire at if you plan on attending. Bring your cameras, binoculars, sun protection, and bird books to the COSA.

Prizes

We have some prizes for those who participate! The challenges to win prizes are below:

1. Most overall observations
2. Most identified species
3. Most bird species
4. Most invertebrates
5. Most flowering plants
6. Most reptiles
7. Most native plants

Winning one of these challenges could get you an Ann Logan art piece/product of your choice! 

Prizes include:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How to use iNaturalist (full instructions)

There are two different ways to use iNaturalist to participate in the BioBlitz. You will need to make an account and join our project. Here are the instructions for both options.

How to use iNaturalist on a smartphone 

1. Download the iNaturalist app and make an account.

2. Click three bars in the top left corner and choose “Projects” from the drop down menu.

3. Click the magnifying glass on top right corner and search “2022 ESLT BioBlitz”. You should see the purple ESLT logo. Click on the project.

4. You will need to join the project to upload your observations to it. The project will only be open on 8/21, so you won’t be able to join it before then. On the top of the page you should see a button on the left that says “Join”. If you can’t see it, you may have to rotate your screen so the app lets you see the entire page. Click “Join”.

5. Click the three bars in the top left corner and then click on your username at the top. This should take you to a page titled “My Observations”.

6. Click the green plus button in the bottom right and either upload a photo or take a photo on the app of an organism. Your phone should record location, date and time. You can choose to obscure the location or make it private if you wish by clicking on “Location Visibility”. You can also change the location if it doesn’t look correct by clicking on it. You can also add notes and sounds.

7. Your observation should upload instantly to the “2022 ESLT BioBlitz” project.

How to use iNaturalist if using a camera to take photos and a notebook to record metadata (ie location, time) and uploading data to a computer later. 

1. Type in https://www.inaturalist.org/ and log in or make an account (upper right corner).

2. Type “2022 ESLT BioBlitz” into the search bar on the top left. The project should show up in a drop down menu.

3. Click “About” on the right side of the drop down menu next to the name of the project.

4. On the upper right side of the purple box there is a “Join” button. Click this.

We encourage you to attend the workshop to help with these steps. We have also created a test project that you can join and upload a practice observation to. The project is named “ESLT (test).”