December 2020 - Parks & Recreation - 41

GroMoreGood initiative, they are
working to educate more children,
families and communities about
the importance of pollinators and
what people can do to help.
This year, like so many activities,
the BioBlitz had to adapt due to
the pandemic. Initially planned to
run in June for Pollinators Month,
the campaign was rescheduled
for September to ensure agencies
and their communities could participate safely. Fortunately, the
BioBlitz lends itself to being a virtual activity that anyone can participate in. The activity not only
let participants safely explore parks
and learn more about the species
through the iNaturalist App, but
also helped to gather specific data
on the species located in parks that
helps park professionals manage
those spaces for biological diversity
and build ecological resilience.
This year, nearly 200 park agencies or like-minded organizations
downloaded information on how
to host a BioBlitz. Events were organized from coast to coast, with
24 states represented from Alaska
to Florida, and a total of 57 organizations participated. These groups
recorded nearly 19,500 observations, documenting thousands of
different species of both pollinators
and pollinator-supporting plants.
Nearly 2,300 people participated
in the national BioBlitz to record
these findings, and more than
3,000 experts helped identify the
findings using iNaturalist.
Participating park and recreation
professionals found creative ways to
connect virtually with the communities they serve, including holding
virtual sessions to help educate their
communities on local pollinators
and host plants, providing adventure kits for participating youth,
installing interactive art features to

educate and engage in a safe mannner, providing directions for polliinator crafts and games for families
es
- the list goes on. By promoting
ng
the importance of pollinators, some
me
agencies experienced an increase in
n
public support for pollinator habitat
at
and are planning installations this
is
fall! For instance, the city of Peoria,
a,
Arizona, received such strong commmunity interest and engagement
nt
through its BioBlitz that the city is
planning a new pollinator garden
in one of its parks and plans to host
other BioBlitz events later this year
to continue to engage and educate
its community around the importance of biodiversity.
In 2020, NRPA and The Scotts
Miracle-Gro Foundation granted
$20,000 to the city of Dallas (Texas) Parks and Recreation Department to create pollinator habitats
and educate local children, families and community members. The
city of Dallas will install a pollinator habitat at Crawford Memorial
Park that aligns with its efforts to
improve pollinator conservation,
focusing on increasing connectivity for both wildlife to habitat and
people to nature. The garden will
act as an outdoor classroom, waystation for pollinators and have elements of both a formal garden and
a maintained wildflower area to
showcase the beauty of pollinator
gardens. It will connect communities to larger-scale installations
nearby and the cost effectiveness of
native habitat. " Dallas is focused
on protecting our natural resources and educating communities on
how nature and pollinators affect
our daily lives, " says John D. Jenkins, director of Dallas Parks and
Recreation. " Creating a pollinator
garden at Crawford Park will provide an outdoor classroom and a
natural space for residents to enjoy

INNERS
W

WINNERS
WI

NNER

2020 NRPA BioBlitz
Winners
Agencies that hosted a BioBlitz
event in September had the
chance to win a $1,000 prize and
one of three Scotts Miracle-Gro
prize packs to help with pollinator
habitats or programs.
Congratulations to the grand
prize winner of $1,000 and one
Scotts Miracle-Gro prize pack,
DuPage Monarch Project (DuPage County, Illinois), a partnership
between Forest Preserve District
of DuPage County, Sierra Club:
River Prairie Group, The Conservation Foundation and Wild Ones:
Greater DuPage Chapter.
The winners of the two additional prize packs are Bismarck
Parks and Recreation District (Bismarck, North Dakota) and San
Marcos Parks and Recreation Department (San Marcos, Texas).

all year-round. Conservation activities like BioBlitzes are hands-on
ways for them to get excited about
protecting Dallas' natural habitats
and wildlife and feel that they belong to nature. " We look forward
to sharing the impacts of this project in the future.
Betty Blockinger is Volunteer Services Manager at Columbus
Recreation and Parks Department (BKBlockinger@columbus.
gov). Rosalie Hendon is Environmental Planner at Columbus
Recreation and Parks Department (RFHendon@columbus.
gov). Michele White is Conservation Program Manager at
NRPA (mwhite@nrpa.org).

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Parks & Recreation

December 2020 - Parks & Recreation

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