The results are rolling in and and they look good!

It's now officially Sunday, so the 4th Annual Sagehen BioBlitz has ended. Thanks to Lynn, Janet and Ashley for organizing, to all the expert naturalists who volunteered their time today, and to everyone who showed up to help us document life in the Sagehen Basin!

Even with only 14 people having uploaded observations so far, it looks like we have smashed the previous goalposts for number of total observations, and number of species observed. I can't wait to see what the numbers look like when everyone has contributed!

I created an umbrella project so you can compare the past 'Blitzes with this year. Check it out here.

Some of the day's great observations so far include this horsetail (Equisetum hymenale). Alex Gallandt and I sprinted all over looking for it: I noticed it this spring and only belatedly realized it was a new species for the list. This was my/our third trip to look for it, and today we finally succeeded in collecting the plant for the Sagehen herbarium.

This kind of discovery may not seem like a big deal until you realize that researchers and students have been aggressively collecting all over the Sagehen basin for 68 years now. How could they miss something this big and obvious? Maybe it's a new arrival?

There's no telling who will make the next big discovery, so get your observations uploaded soon, before you get busy and forget!

Posted on July 22, 2018 07:37 AM by faerthen