Among the forests, swamps, tidal wetlands, and ocean waves of Narragansett, Rhode Island, more than 200 adult volunteers, school children, working scientists, and avocational naturalists scramble in early June to tally as many species as possible in one 24-hour period within a designated parcel of land. The event is called BioBlitz.
BioBlitz is an annual event in which scientists and citizen scientists spend one full day and night observing, identifying, and recording as many fish, birds, mammals, insects, fungi, trees, and plants as they can.
BioBlitz: Discovering Nature's Neighborhood chronicles the 2013 event in a half-hour documentary that makes its television encore on Saturday, June 10 at 11:00 p.m.
A special event by any measure, this particular BioBlitz was made even more notable for the volunteers braving the elements after a tropical storm dumped 4 1/2 inches of rain overnight. The Narragansett project, which included Canonchet Farm, Narrow River, and the Pettaquamscutt Cove, located 1,265 species of life.
Hosted by the Rhode Island Natural History Survey annually since 2000 in various sites around Rhode Island, BioBlitz: Discovering Nature's Neighborhood was filmed by the Coastal Institute at University of Rhode Island.
Presented as part of Rhode Island Stories, BioBlitz: Discovering Nature's Neighborhood will encore on WSBE Rhode Island PBS (digital 36.1) on Tuesday, June 13 at 4 a.m. It will also air on WSBE Learn (36.2) on Saturday, June 10 at 2 p.m.; Tuesday, June 13 at 10 p.m.; Wednesday, June 14 at 3 a.m.; and Thursday, June 15 at midnight.
