BioBlitz at the Big Sandy Unit of the Tennessee National Wildlife Refuge (NWR)

Refuge May 16th Bioblitz Rescheduled for September 12, 2020

Springville, TN – The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service had recently announced teaming up with the Tennessee Valley Authority and Discover Life in America to host a BioBlitz at the Big Sandy Unit of the Tennessee National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) in north-central Tennessee on May 16th. Due to concerns about the Corona virus, this free event open to the public will
reschedule for September 12, 2020.

A BioBlitz is a short, intense team effort to survey as many different types of organisms as possible in one location, including plants, insects and other animals, fungi, and more. Species are easily identified and recorded using an app called iNaturalist on any mobile device. However, it doesn’t take a team to use this innovative new program. Any interested participant
can practice now in the backyard by going to the website at https://www.inaturalist.org/ or downloading the app on your mobile device. Create an account and you can start to identify anything in nature and record its location. It is a great activity to explore during this time of
social distancing.

Interested participants can register at dlia.org/bioblitz-tnwr and should install and set up iNaturalist (a citizen science app) on their mobile device. As a preparation for the event, a special evening nocturnal event will be held on Friday September 11 th from 5:30 – 9:30 pm by the Friends of Tennessee NWR just for Friends members, refuge volunteers and staff families.
To become a Friends member is cheap and easy, for more information see friendstnwr.org.

For more information about the fall Bioblitz, contact the Tennessee National Wildlife Refuge at 731-642-2091 or email [email protected].