BOYDS MILLS, PA — Want to experience the diversity of life in a parcel of land? Want to meet scientists and amateur naturalists?

Those scientists and naturalists will be participating in the sixth Upper Delaware BioBlitz. It opens with a family-friendly event on Saturday, June 29 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Highlands Foundation Retreat Center. The BioBlitz itself will continue into Sunday, June 29.

During this 24-hour event, biologists and volunteers will collect, identify and catalog as many living things as possible on a demarcated property owned by the center. 

Eight teams of researchers will focus on specific species—birds, botany, fish, fungi, reptiles and amphibians, terrestrial invertebrates, aquatic macroinvertebrates, mosses and lichens, and mammals. 

The public can meet scientists from different disciplines, see what they have collected, and take a tour of the site to learn how different species live and thrive in the context of the overall property.

Bring the family to view the specimens, talk to the experts, and enjoy a tour—all at no charge. Teams and sponsoring organizations will provide information and offer programs on their areas of expertise.

Hunt for and get help identifying mushrooms with the Delaware Highlands Mushroom Society. Explore the site’s natural wonders on a short foraging walk with Laura Silverman of the Outside Institute. Enjoy a nature- and climate-oriented theater performance by the Farm Arts Collective, an acclaimed local theater troupe. Join botanist Sarah Chamberlain of the Pennsylvania Native Plant Society to search for native plants and learn how to start your own garden.

“This event is a way to highlight the richness of the environment in which we play, work, and live and to help us see our lives in the context of all the other living things with which we co-exist,” said Steve Schwartz, BioBlitz organizer. “It’s also an opportunity for scientists and amateur naturalists to work together and share information with the public about what they find. All of the identified species, along with vast biota of microscopic species, are interdependent; all are nourished by the mineral and organic composition of the soils and the air and water.”

The scientists will identify what they find down to the species level. Some of this work will be done in the field through visual identification and documented with photos. Other items will be brought back to the collection tables for further identification through careful analysis. Some of the items will be identified through high-powered microscopes available on-site. 

The teams all have specialized methods of collection depending on the species. For example, the mammal team will erect mist nets to collect bats, and the invertebrate team will utilize different types of traps for insects. 

All the data will be compiled into an inventory of species collected during the event. This information will be publicly available and may help future scientists understand what was living on the site at this specific time. If rare or endangered species are found, they will be added to the Pennsylvania Natural Diversity Inventory database.

The Wayne County Community Foundation has made a grant to the 2024 BioBlitz and is the fiscal agent for the event. Sponsors of this year’s BioBlitz include the Upper Delaware Council, Wayne Conservation District and Friends of the Upper Delaware River. 

Individual donations can be made through the Network for Good at www.bit.ly/2024BioBlitzSupport.   

Visit www.upperdelawarebioblitz.com or www.facebook.com/UpperDelawareBioBlitz for additional event information and directions to the site, or email info@upperdelawarebioblitz.com.