This year the National Park Service (NPS) turns 100 years old! As part of a year-long celebration, the NPS will be holding a bioblitz in our nation’s capital on the 20th and 21st of May. Throughout the year, parks around the country will be joining in the centennial celebration with their own bioblitz events.

Here in Tucson, Saguaro National Park has teamed with the University of Arizona and the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum to engage our youth in a series of schoolyard bioblitz events, bringing students closer to the biodiversity in their own backyards. Schoolyard bioblitz events will take place throughout the year, and we will track our growing list of species here! But we don't want to limit observations to students. Any and all are invited to participate. Help us document the tremendous biodiversity of our beloved city by recording the fungus, plants, insects, birds, lizards, and other animals you observe in your own neighborhood.

To see all of the BioBlitzes throughout the National Park Service, check out: https://www.nps.gov/subjects/biodiversity/national-parks-bioblitz.htm

Photo credit: Drew Jackson less ↑