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Raccoon Mountain BioBlitz
May 10 @ 6:00 pm – May 11 @ 12:00 pm EDT
Free, family friendly opportunity to learn about local animals and plants while contributing to science. Join Discover Life in America and the Tennessee Valley Authority at Raccoon Mountain in Chattanooga, TN.
Two chances to ‘blitz!
Friday, May 10, 6pm to 10pm: Join us for an evening of discoveries…we will continue in the dark, as we will set up a black light to monitor insect populations!
Saturday, May 11, 8am to 12pm: The morning is a great time to look for birds and we will continue to look for other flora and fauna throughout the morning!
Where?
TVA’s Raccoon Mountain at Laurel Point Picnic Area
What’s a bioblitz?
During a bioblitz, volunteers help document as many kinds of animals, plants, and other organisms as we can find in a specific area. It’s also an opportunity for you to be a community scientist, gathering real scientific data, while also learning about the local flora and fauna living around you. We will be walking the trails, looking for bugs, flowers, salamanders, and other living organisms. We’ll photograph them with our phones and post pictures to our iNaturalist project. We’ll have experts on hand to guide small groups point out interesting facts about the organisms we see, and teach you how to use the iNaturalist app.
What will we be doing?
Walking the trails, looking for bugs, flowers, salamanders, and anything else we can find. We’ll photograph them with our phones and post pictures to our iNaturalist project. It’ll be a fun morning of outdoor time in a gorgeous natural space and we’ll have experts on hand to guide small groups around the trail and point out interesting facts about the organisms we see.
Afterward you can see what kind of organisms we found by visiting the project on iNaturalist, which will be left up indefinitely. We encourage you to revisit the Loyston Point trails and post what you find! Making iNaturalist observations helps TVA know what’s out there so they can better manage and protect these public lands.
Before the event
- Download iNaturalist to your phone (it’s free!)
- Follow prompts in the app to create an iNaturalist account
- Bring water and some snacks (we’ll also provide water)
- Wear weather-appropriate clothing and sturdy shoes for hiking
Get the iNaturalist app.
Download the app. Log in. Try it out.