BioBlitzes

Porcupine spotted on the Thurman property, 2008.
Photo courtesy of Nick Aliota.

Wild Lakes Bioblitz
The Citizen Science Center and the Chippewa County Land Conservation Department partnered together to develop and pilot a protocol for conducting a modified BioBlitz on the John David Thurman Wildlife Area property, owned by Chippewa County. The study was conducted in 2008 and prior to the BioBlitz, very little was known about the flora and fauna on the site. The purpose of the BioBlitz was to determine a method in which staff and volunteers at the Citizen Science Center could conduct a rapid assessment of the organisms in the wildlife area. During the project, 18 volunteers contributed 208.25 hours to the project and collected data about mammals, reptiles, amphibians, birds, terrestrial and aquatic plants, odonata (dragonflies and damselflies), bats, and worms. A draft version of the report from this project is available upon request from the Citizen Science Center.

Volunteers conducting worm survey at Coon Fork State Natural Area, 2009.

Eau Claire Barrens BioBlitz
After the Wild Lakes BioBlitz, word caught on and Eau Claire County approached the Citizen Science Center in 2009 to conduct bioblitzes on two of their properties, the Coon Fork State Natural Area and the South Fork State Natural Area. Data from the bioblitzes on these two properties is still being collected and compiled.