We are looking for native plant and animal experts to help out with the first annual Great Houston Wildlife Count on October 8th!
Houston is known as one of the most diverse cities in the nation; however, little is known about the current state of its urban plants and wildlife! With more than 300 municipal parks and neighborhood green spaces, there could be any number of biological surprises waiting to be discovered!
The wildlife count will take place in four areas: Rice University/Hermann park, Mason Park, Buffalo Bayou Park, and the Houston Arboretum. Anyone and everyone has been invited to come out to participate in locating species at these sites, so we are looking for organismal experts to tag along to assist with identification.
We will be using the iNaturalist app to collect the data, including species name, location, and upload photographs for identification. This will be a great opportunity to become more familiar with this data collection technique, while helping novices learn what components are the most important to photograph for identification.
Not only will we be compiling a list of urban organisms for Houston, we will also be adding our plant and pollinator data to the Texas Parks and Wildlife’s state-wide Pollinator Bioblitz, which is being held across the state between October 7th – 16th.
If interested in participating, please contact Jaime González (see attached flyer for contact) or Cassidy Johnson (firstname.lastname@example.org).
We hope to see you there!!