Bioblitz 2024 with Colorado Natural Heritage Program and Warner College

Over the summer, naturalists from Colorado Natural Heritage Program, Colorado Native Plant Society, Denver Botanic Gardens, Warner and others joined forces to complete a Bioblitz – aka a thorough biological inventory – of a property located outside of Golden, Colorado.

During four days, the scientists and CNHP interns worked from dawn to dusk to identify, collect, characterize, and map everything from plants and insects to birds and lichen.

They gathered plant samples, measured and released mammals caught in animal traps, collected bugs from light traps, and searched for rare wetland types, and now they are counting and inventorying species back at CNHP headquarters.

Some of those discoveries include a plant community called Parry’s Oat grass, two rare plants including Rocky Mountain Phacelia and Adoxa, several lichens and mosses of interest, and a butterfly species that may be new to science!

Fun fact: The special property where this inventory took place is owned and cared for by descendants of Aldo Leopold, an important figure in the modern conservation movement and wildlife ecology.