The Border BioBlitz is a two-day communal citizen-science effort to record as many species as possible on each side of the U.S.-Mexico border. Join us as part of the San Diego team to document the stunning biological biodiversity of our borderlands. To join the discovery, all you need is a smartphone with the iNaturalist app (free for Android and iOS). As you come across different species of plants, animals, insects, and fungi, you will take their picture and upload them to iNaturalist, a mobile app that contributes mightily to citizen driven data gathering. The data gathered will help to protect these sensitive and threatened environments from destruction in the future.

iNaturalist page: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/border-bioblitz

When and Where:

Saturday, March 2nd

Otay Mountain Open Space Preserve in the AM, Otay Mesa vernal pool sites in the PM We will meet at Mountain Hawk Park in Chula Vista at 8:00 am for an on-site training and orientation. 4-wheel drive required for this trip. We can arrange carpooling on-site and there will be some seats available but we strongly encourage people to coordinate prior to coming.

What to bring:

CLOSED-TOE SHOES/BOOTS ARE REQUIRED FOR THIS PROJECT. Pants and long-sleeved shirts are highly recommended. Be sure to bring your smartphone, enough water, lunch and sun protection. It is very important that all participants have the iNaturalist app downloaded to their smart phone and that it has enough battery for taking photographs the whole day, or you can carry an extra storage device. You can join the Border Blitz iNaturalist project once you have downloaded the app: http://inaturalist.org/projects/border-bioblitz.

Questions?

Contact Charlie De la Rosa charlie.delarosa@gmail.com OR Ryan Fitch at ryanthompsonfitch@gmail.com

For general information on the Border BioBlitz visit the N-Gen Sonoran Desert Researchers' website.