Bioblitz @ Cave Mountain Trail

Bioblitz @ Cave Mountain Trail

July 17, 2021 @ 8:00 am – 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 the Cave Mountain Small Wild Area on the south side of Guntersville Dam for a bioblitz of the Cave Mountain Trail.

What’s a bioblitz?

During a bioblitz, volunteers help us find as many kinds of animals, plants and other organisms as we can find in a certain place. 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!

What will we be doing?

Walking the Cave Mountain Trail (a moderate 1.5 mile loop), looking for bugs, flowers, 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 several 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 Cave Mountain iNaturalist project, which will be up indefinitely. We encourage you to revisit the site later 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.

FREE REGISTRATION

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

Where and when to meet?

Meet in the gravel parking area for Cave Mountain Small Wild Area, located on the north side of Snow Point Road/HWY 50 at 8 AM on Saturday, July 17. Cave Mountain SWA is on the south side of the Guntersville Dam near Guntersville, Alabama.

Directions to meeting spot