From birds to butterflies, students observed all sorts of wildlife and plant life in the Carr Hall Garden at this year’s Bio Blitz.
The event was organized by the Office of Sustainability, the biology department and the new Green Coalition — an amalgamation of numerous environmental clubs at Allegheny. The event was held on Sept. 5, from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., and featured the usage of iNaturalist, an app for citizens to share scientific observations for identification.
Green Coalition Co-Secretary Lauren Buettner, ’26, hopes that events like the BioBlitz can be educational and fun for all those involved.
“I feel like these events help bring us together as a community, as Allegheny College, (to) learn more about nature and connect people more with nature,” Buettner said.
She hopes that students are able to learn more about the Carrden and its greenery that might go unnoticed on one’s hurried way to class.
“So far, I’m shocked about the amount of monarch butterflies we found around here,” Buettner said. “Those have been really interesting. There’s also a pawpaw tree, which I know produces fruits that taste like bananas. It’s really cool. So that was cool finding them here.”
Emma Stephens, ’29, was just passing by the Carrden when she happened to notice the event taking place. She spoke about the number of monarch butterflies seen around the garden and house finches perched on the trees.
Stephens believes that events like the Bio Blitz are significant because they raise awareness about sustainability and the programs going on at Allegheny.
The idea for the event was developed in part because of her work with the Carrden and her observations of the animal and plant life, inviting students to come and see for themselves. The event-goers utilized the iNaturalist app, where photos can be uploaded for identification. Monarch butterflies, bees, finches, and other insects, animals and plants were all seen during the afternoon.
“We thought it would be fun to invite people into the space and engage them into the garden,” Director of Sustainability Kelly Boulton, ’02 said.. “A Bio Blitz is a fun way to do it. It’s citizen science, so it’s all of us collectively making observations about what we see.”
For the Office of Sustainability, that’s one of the many goals of events like the Bio Blitz: Sharing the collective observations of participants will allow for a greater understanding of the environment Allegheny finds itself in. While the Office of Sustainability is still planning a wider variety of events, Boulton is optimistic that more areas on campus could be picked for future observation.
“I love the idea of eventually just picking another plot and doing Bio Blitzes of the entire campus,” Boulton said. “It could even be up at Robertson in the woods, that would be a completely different kind of BioBlitz.”
In the days, weeks and months following the Bio Blitz, the office hopes the event will encourage students to be more thoughtful about the environment around them. The iNaturalist app can be continuously used when discovering something new or unknown on campus, further engaging with nature. In turn, it can inspire users to make changes in their behavior to help the planet in any way they can.
“We can do this here and maybe we can build that up, but you all are going to graduate and go live all over the place,” Boulton said. “This is a really cool way to meet people, engage with your environment and just build community.”
The office encourages students to participate in these events to know more about the place they live, work and study. Some students who’ve never thought to stop in the Carrden can enjoy its scenery and become educated about the environment.
“I want people to feel like, as much as the rest of campus,” Boultson said, “this is a place for people to enjoy.”
