Bioblitz at project night

[Dan Rademacher]

Hi folks,

Depending on who all appears at project night tonight, it would be great to discuss the November 8 India Basin/Heron's Head Bioblitz that's shaping up as our fall blitz.

Lots of info below from Alison, plus an idea from me about maybe using drones to do some photography of the marsh areas, which I think could be really cool.

Sorry I won't be there tonight!

Best,

Dan

Hi Alison, et al,

We're definitely still excited about doing a Bioblitz at Heron's Head/India Basin on November 8!

We can help with setting up the blitz presence on iNaturalist.org, outreach via social media and to our email list, and day-of logistical support. We also have some funding buy snacks and pay for printing if needed, like for a customized map/program.

Oh, and I'll bet our Eco-drone folks would love to come out and do some aerial photography of the area with their quadcopters, if that works out with local regulations, doesn't disturb birds, etc. It could be neat to get some pics over the pickleweed areas.

Onward!

Best,

Dan

On Tuesday, September 23, 2014, Young, Alison <AYo...@calacademy.org> wrote:

Hi all,

I wanted to connect some dots for a possible Heron's Head/India Basin bioblitz on Saturday, Nov. 8 as part of the City's Biodiversity Education/EcoLiteracy Summit.  Some of the background information:

The City's Department of the Environment, in conjunction with a bunch of partners (including the Academy, SFRPD, Aquarium of the Bay, Presidio Trust, LEJ, the SEED Foundation, and others), is holding a SF Biodiversity Education Summit the first week of November. It's kicking off with a public event at the Academy's NightLife on Thursday, Nov. 6, with a panel discussing different ways of seeing urban biodiversity, an Earth Update focusing on SF biodiversity, and potentially with the theme of the NightLife centered on the city/SF biodiversity/citizen science. On Friday, Nov. 7, there will be a group of people/organizations doing environmental/biodiversity-related education in the city invited to the Heron's Head Eco-Center to participate in a think tank. 

We want to have a public event on Saturday, Nov. 8, that we can invite the Summit participants to as well as to put a call out during the NightLife event - a "here's your chance to do something asap!" message. We'd love to have a short bioblitz of India Basin and Heron's Head -  so we can let folks know that there is a way they can help build knowledge and data about biodiversity in the city as well as learning more about a couple of the city's parks. We'd likely hold this as a morning to mid-day event: a few hours of bioblitzing followed by an 1-1.5 hour "wrap session" where we can upload observations and find out what everyone saw.

Some of the players/why you're on this email/some "to-do"s:

• Rachel and Christopher: your names came up at our last planning meeting as folks that should definitely be in the conversation about/planning of this bioblitz
• Jeanine: Jeanine is from the Trust for Public Land and approached the Academy a few months ago about holding a bioblitz at India Basin
• Dan: Dan heads up the volunteer group Nerds for Nature, who we've partnered with to hold quite a few grassroots bioblitzes in the Bay Area – including the Green Hairstreak Corridor bioblitz this past spring. Nerds for Nature is now looking to be involved in quarterly bioblitzes and were potentially interested in making Heron's Head/India Basin their bioblitz for the fall. They bring a ton of expertise to the table and provide great support and outreach, including lots of the logistical aspects of the bioblitz and the day-of boots-on-the-ground work. Dan – is N4N still interested in a fall bioblitz at Heron's Head/India Basin? Can you float the idea again at Thursday's meetup?
• Sonja and Zoe: I believe you two were going to look into the availability of Heron's Head and the Eco-Center for the 8th. We do need a place to gather, especially at the end of the bioblitz, where there is wifi and folks can upload their observations and we can all chat about what we saw. It would be great if the Eco-Center could be that place!
• The rest of us, including Sonja and Zoe, are part of the planning group for the Summit

Please let me know your thoughts, if you'd like more information about these small bioblitzes we've been holding: how they work, what people do, etc., any questions you have, other people you think should be in this conversation, etc.

We're excited to get the ball rolling!

Thanks,

Alison

Alison Young
Citizen Science Educator
California Academy of Sciences
p. 415.379.5807
ayo...@calacademy.org
www.calacademy.org