LOS ANGELES, CA -- 05/16/08 --
Los Angeles can lay claim to more than the
Hollywood Bowl, Grauman's Chinese Theatre and the Venice Beach boardwalk.
Sprawling through 160,000-plus acres of the city, and no less stimulating,
is the world's largest urban national park -- the Santa Monica Mountains
National Recreation Area -- and Griffith Park. To better understand,
appreciate and protect this natural treasure, the
National Park
Service and
National
Geographic Society have joined forces to host the
Santa Monica Mountains
BioBlitz, May 30 and 31, noon to noon. Joining the national sponsors
are California State Parks, Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy and Los
Angeles Recreation and Parks Department.
The Celebrate BioDiversity Festival follows the afternoon of Saturday, May
31, after the initial BioBlitz species count is announced. Open to the
public (no registration required), it will offer such family entertainment
as the Banana Slug String Band, Billy B and the Culver City Dub Collective.
The public will be able to speak to scientists and enjoy the wonders of the
park at this time.
Part scientific endeavor, part festival and part outdoor classroom, the
BioBlitz will draw together hundreds of scientists, naturalists,
adventurers, community leaders, more than 1,400 Los Angeles schoolchildren
and volunteers for all ages to participate in a 24-hour race to discover
and record as many plant and animal species as possible.
In this extraordinary experience open to the public, volunteers of all ages
are needed to work alongside hundreds of experts to help count species of
bugs, birds, butterflies, bats, wildflowers and other plants and animals
that call the Santa Monica Mountains and Griffith Park home. Parents and
caregivers are encouraged to bring children to the BioBlitz. While children
ages 8 and older may want to participate on inventory teams with their
parents, there also will be age-appropriate activities for younger kids at
Paramount Ranch "base camp."
Paramount
Ranch base camp, located at 2903 Cornell Road, Agoura Hills, will be
the dynamic center of activity. Participant check-in begins at 10 a.m. on
Friday, May 30, for the initial inventory teams. Festivities will begin at
11:30 a.m., with a kickoff ceremony bringing together representatives,
collaborators and agencies from Los Angeles' scientific, conservation,
political and entertainment communities. The 24-hour race to document the
biodiversity of the Santa Monica Mountains will begin promptly at noon,
when teams will go near and far across the mountains to begin the nature
inventory. Inventory teams are organized in four-hour time slots. There
will also be exploration opportunities closer to base camp for people
interested in shorter excursions.
At base camp, people can watch scientists doing round-the-clock research to
identify and document species collected in the field. Additional activities
throughout the day and night at base camp include talks by experts,
displays and demonstrations, entertainment and children's activities.
Ray Sauvajot, chief of planning, science and resource management, Santa
Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, said, "I see a rising awareness
of the amazing diversity that is literally in our backyards in Los Angeles.
We are bringing together families, schools and related organizations to
have fun, working alongside the top scientists of our generation. We are
providing a hands-on experience, using real scientific techniques and
equipment with expert guidance and increasing the everyday knowledge of how
scientists understand that diversity."
"As a parent with two young boys, I know how programmed and wired kids are
today, and unstructured time playing and exploring outdoors is often lost
in the mix," said John Francis, National Geographic's vice president of
research, conservation and exploration. "Nature Deficit Disorder, as coined
by Richard Louv, reveals that this disconnect with nature is hurting
today's youth physically and mentally. Our children will also be tomorrow's
caretakers of the planet. We hope the BioBlitz will introduce kids to the
amazing natural world in their own backyard and inspire people to enjoy and
preserve natural treasures in the Santa Monica Mountains and beyond."
BioBlitz inventories are being staged simultaneously at five additional
field stations where pre-registered participants can meet. Areas selected
for their varied ecological conditions include Griffith Park, King Gillette
Ranch, Leo Carrillo State Park, Malibu Pier and Lagoon and Topanga State
Park. Activities include exploring tide pools, catching butterflies with
nets, searching for hidden wildflowers in the canyons and observing and
catching owls with nets at night.
National Geographic has had a close relationship with the National Park
Service from the start. The Society helped draft the legislation to
establish the Service in 1916. It has given grants to establish or sustain
national parks and has extensively covered the parks across its media for
nearly a century. The Santa Monica Mountains BioBlitz is part of the
Society and National Park Service's latest joint venture. The Santa Monica
Mountains BioBlitz is the second of 10 annual BioBlitzes that will be held
at urban national park units around the country, leading up to the Park
Service's centennial in 2016. The first was held at Rock Creek Park in
Washington, D.C., last year.
Said Woody Smeck, superintendent at Santa Monica Mountains National
Recreation Area, "We are excited to host the 2008 BioBlitz. Los Angeles is
fortunate to have such an amazing natural oasis in its backyard. The
BioBlitz will be a great opportunity for people to explore this treasure
and observe firsthand the incredible diversity of life in the mountains
while recreating and rejuvenating their spirits in the outdoors."
Registration is required for all BioBlitz participants. Online registration
is now open at www.nationalgeographic.com/bioblitz, and
pre-registration is required to ensure placement in field inventory teams.
For more information about the Santa Monica Mountains BioBlitz,
registration, volunteer and participation opportunities, visit
www.nationalgeographic.com/bioblitz.
Drop-ins are welcome for the Celebrate Diversity Festival and for general
exploration of base camp. Information is also available by calling (800)
638-6400, ext. 6186. To reserve a limited free bus seat on May 31 with a 9
a.m. departure from the Natural History Museum, 900 Exposition Blvd., call
213-763-ED4U. Return buses from Paramount Ranch are at 4 p.m. and 6 p.m.
The Santa Monica Mountains rise above Los Angeles, widen to meet the curve
of Santa Monica Bay, and reach their highest peaks facing the open ocean.
The land is beautiful and diverse, featuring a rugged coastline with
narrow, sandy beaches and rocky shores, canyon walls with dense chaparral
and fragrant sages and inland grassy hillsides. In 1978 Congress
established the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area as part of
the national park system. Visit www.nps.gov/samo.
The National Geographic Society is one of the world's largest nonprofit
scientific and educational organizations. Founded in 1888 to "increase and
diffuse geographic knowledge," the Society works to inspire people to care
about the planet. It reaches more than 300 million people worldwide each
month through its official journal, National Geographic, and other
magazines; National Geographic Channel; television documentaries; music;
radio; films; books; DVDs; maps; school publishing programs; interactive
media; and merchandise. National Geographic has funded more than 8,800
scientific research, conservation and exploration projects and supports an
education program combating geographic illiteracy. For more information,
visit www.nationalgeographic.com.
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CONTACT:
Sandi Padnos
SCOOP
(310) 903-6700
Email Contact
Charles Taylor
National Park Service
(213) 453-3865
Email Contact
Carol Seitz
National Geographic Society
(202) 457-8496
Email Contact
