The Conservation Commission is committed to public education and strives to help Jericho residents learn more about the natural communities within our town and beyond. As part of its mission to promote connections with nature the Jericho CC hosts occasional Bioblitzes for the town.
A BioBlitz(External link) is an event that focuses on finding and identifying as many species as possible in a specific area over a short period of time. At a BioBlitz, scientists, families, students, teachers, and other community members work together to get a snapshot of an area’s biodiversity. These events can happen in most any geography—urban,Continue reading
The Conservation Commission is committed to public education and strives to help Jericho residents learn more about the natural communities within our town and beyond. As part of its mission to promote connections with nature the Jericho CC hosts occasional Bioblitzes for the town.
A BioBlitz(External link) is an event that focuses on finding and identifying as many species as possible in a specific area over a short period of time. At a BioBlitz, scientists, families, students, teachers, and other community members work together to get a snapshot of an area’s biodiversity. These events can happen in most any geography—urban, rural, or suburban—in areas as small as a backyard or as large as a country. - National Geographic Society
The 2021 fall venue is at Mills Riverside Park(External link). Stay tuned for updates on this community nature project.
The Jericho Conservation Commission recently wrapped up the Spring BioBlitz at Mobbs Farm. More information to come the findings from the BilBlitz.
Claytonia caroliniana
Andrena sp. (Mining Bee) on Salix sp. (Willow)
Fall Bioblitz 2020 overview:
The Jericho Conservation Commission hosted a BioBlitz in September 2020 as part of our mission to educate Jericho residents on the natural features in town.
Not only did the BioBlitz encourage people to get outdoors while maintaining social distancing, it enabled our collective observations to contribute to the greater scientific knowledge of Vermont’s flora, fauna, and fungi.
Kent McFarland, from the Vermont Center for EcoStudies(External link), acknowledged the importance of our project in this statement:
“Knowing the identity and occurrence of organisms forms a backbone of understanding of our natural heritage. This knowledge is essential for monitoring the state of biodiversity and ecosystems, developing sound environmental management policies, and making ecologically sustainable development decisions. The interest and help from naturalists, students and other volunteers is invaluable because there simply aren't enough scientists to collect this data alone. Here in Vermont we're lucky to have so many folks interested and willing to help discover and monitor biodiversity across the state.”
Kudos to the many people who came to Mobbs Farm during the two weeks of the BioBlitz and submitted observations to iNaturalist(External link). Another goal in hosting the BioBlitz at Mobbs Farm was to highlight the biodiversity of the park as the Mobbs Committee moves forward in its bid to permanently conserve the land with a conservation easement. We on the Conservation Commission hope that the efforts of so many volunteers will showcase this spot in Jericho as not only important to humans, but also to so many other living beings. It is without a doubt worthy of permanent protection from development.
At the end of two weeks we collectively observed:
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