HCPSS Students to Develop Park Species List at Week-long BioBlitz

September 10th, 2014

HCPSS elementary and middle school students will join state scientists to develop a catalog of plant and animal wildlife at Howard County’s Belmont Manor and Historic Park during the Howard County Conservancy BioBlitz event, to be held Sept. 15-18, 2014.

Students from Ducketts Lane and Rockburn elementary schools, and Ellicott Mills, Patapsco and Thomas Viaduct middle schools, will work with researchers to discover, count, map, and learn about the biodiversity in the county’s newest park using comprehensive GPS and mapping applications.

Students will also produce an official park species list of birds, plants, mammals, insects, trees and more, which will be available for park visitors to view on the iNaturalist mobile application, an international biodiversity database. The program aligns with Vision 2018: The HCPSS strategic plan, which prioritizes hands-on learning and practical experiences within and beyond the classroom.