2024 Long Island Invasive Species BioBlitz

Community members across Long Island and New York City are participating in the Long Island Invasive Species BioBlitz 2024 for Invasive Species Awareness Week (NYISAW), June 3 – 9. The BioBlitz promotes knowledge and understanding of invasive species and empowers YOU to help protect our local biodiversity!

Participants are encouraged to contribute invasive species observations, along with native species observations, from across the region of LIISMA region – including Staten Island, Brooklyn, Queens, Nassau and Suffolk Counties. LIISMA offered a Zoom webinar on May 30th to teach invasive and native species identification and the use of the free iNaturalist and iMapInvasives apps. The BioBlitz kickoff webinar has been recorded and is available here to view for training purposes.

How can I join the BioBlitz?

1. Join the Long Island BioBlitz project on iNaturalist:. Make sure you are logged in to iNaturalist, then click “join” in the top right of the project.
2. Start BioBlitzing! Make observations on iNaturalist between June 1 – 9 independently or at one of our BioBlitz events (your entries will automatically count towards the Blitz once you’ve joined the project!)

Questions? Email invasive@liisma.org for assistance.

Are you part of a local conservation agency? Become a BioBlitz partner to get your community involved!

Partnering on the BioBlitz with many local organizations is a great way to increase our reach and strengthen partnerships along the way! As a partner on the BioBlitz, you will have the opportunity to do one or more of the following:

1. Promote this event to the public through email, website, etc, and encourage your following to make independent iNaturalist observations during the Blitz.
2. (Optional) Contribute to the kick-off webinar by highlighting conservation topics specific to your organization (i.e. what stands to benefit from reporting species on iNaturalist? Rare species conservation, habitat restoration, reporting invasives, etc.)
3. (Optional) Host an independent or collaborative in-person BioBlitz event during NYISAW or encourage participants to join the BioBlitz at any NYISAW event you are hosting.

If you’d like to partner with us on the BioBlitz, email invasive@liisma.org to let us know!