May Is State Parks BioBlitz Month, Download iNaturalist App And Submit Your Results!

Join the fun of counting all the diverse species at six PA State Parks by downloading the iNaturalist App and participate in the State Parks BioBlitz during May.

Visit any one of the participating parks from May 1 - May 31 and document as many different species as you can. All species can be included, from trees and flowers, fungi and insects, to birds and mammals! 

Download iNaturalist to your smartphone (it's free!) and open the application. Allow it to use your phone's GPS - this comes in super handy for automatically giving locations of organisms in the park (sensitive species can be blocked from general public view). 

For each species you see, take a snapshot with your phone through the app. If you don't know what the organism is, don't worry! The app has incredible software that can help ID it simply by clicking "What did you see?" 

And if iNaturalist can't ID, we can help! The app will fill in time, date, and location, and that's all you need to do! No need to email or send any checklists in as they will automatically be added to the park.

If you don't have a smartphone, or prefer not to use iNaturalist, you can still submit a checklist of organisms you find in the park.

Click Here for a checklist you can download.

The participating parks include: Boyd Big Tree Preserve (Dauphin County);  Codorus State Park (York County); Joseph E. Ibberson Conservation Area (Dauphin County); Kings Gap Environmental Education Center (Cumberland County); Little Buffalo State Park (Perry County); and Trough Creek State Park (Huntingdon County).

For more information, visit the State Parks BioBlitz webpage. Questions should be directed to.  ra-nrspkingees@pa.gov.  

Please keep in mind that this is a self-guided activity and that all participants must follow park guidelines to participate.

  For more information on state parks and forests and recreation in Pennsylvania, visit DCNR’s website, Click Here to sign up for the Resource newsletter, Visit the Good Natured DCNR Blog,  Click Here for upcoming events, Click Here to hook up with DCNR on other social media-- Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Flickr.

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[Posted: May 7, 2021]  PA Environment Digest