LAUMEIER SCULPTURE PARK BIODIVERSITY PROJECT
with 2023 Community Artist In Residence Emily Hemeyer
Think about a visit to Laumeier. What plants and animals do you see, what sounds do you hear? Did you know that you can share your unique experience with the flora, fauna, and fungi that call Laumeier home and help us better understand the biodiversity that we have at the Park?
Participate in the Laumeier Sculpture Park Biodiversity Project, created by 2023 Community Artist In Residence Emily Hemeyer, by recording natural observations at Laumeier through iNaturalist.
iNaturalist is a free app that allows users to upload photos, videos, and sound recordings to help identify different species of plants, animals, and fungi that are found at a specific time and location. With the assistance of online experts and other users, the iNaturalist platform will verify the identity of each uploaded observation. As the number of observations found at Laumeier grows, we’ll all have a better understanding of the natural world that makes up Laumeier Sculpture Park.
BIOBLITZ / August 26 - September 2
A Bioblitz is a biological inventory or census. Our goal is to collect as many observations needed to depict an overall representation of plants, fungi, animals, and other organisms living at Laumeier. Over the week, participants are invited to use iNaturalist to record observations for the ‘Laumeier Biodiversity Project’.
Participants must be registered with Laumeier for notification and to win a prize. Prizes will be awarded for the most qualifying observations in these areas: animals/animal tracks, insects/spiders, birds/bird calls, trees, reptiles, fungi. Six lucky winners will receive an I Love Mother Nature Laumeier Membership and the winner of the fungi category will receive a Mellow Mushroom gift certificate!
Help us kick off the Bioblitz at Discover Laumeier on Sunday, August 27 from 11 a.m. - 3 p.m. A naturalist will be on site ready to assist you with the iNaturalist app or answer any questions about the project.
HOW TO PARTICIPATE:
Download the free iNaturalist app and set up your account. An account is required to upload observations.
Find the Laumeier Sculpture Park Biodiversity Project within the app.
Visit Laumeier and record what you see and hear. You can use photos, videos or sound recordings.
Upload your observations into the app and connect with experts and other users to help identify your observations.
Register at Laumeier to be notified of award winners.
WHAT IS AN OBSERVATION?
An observation records an encounter with an individual organism at a particular time and location. This includes encounters with signs of organisms like tracks or nests. When making an observation, you’ll record:
What you saw
Where you saw it
When you saw it
Evidence of what you saw (photo, video, sound)
You should make separate observations for each separate organism you encounter!
Graphic courtesy of iNaturalist.org