When I first heard about the Bioblitz, I wasn’t exactly very thrilled. All it really meant to me at the time was that I needed to commute into the city for another day, and venture to Central Park from Penn. I am already familiar with nature and the outdoors as I have a home upstate, so I figured that this would just be a lame attempt at trying to show bits and pieces of nature slapped in the middle of one of the most concrete places in the world. I was wrong.
My friends and I were in the plants group. Our leader was infatuated with the wildlife and the plant life living there. He was a little weird, but it actually made it the walks and discussions much more interesting. He had drafted a map that he apparently created which documented every single tree in Central Park. It was actually very impressive and I’m sure that it took many years to complete. He had each species counted and tried explaining as much as he could to us. It actually gave me a drastically changed perspective on the life in Central Park and how it works in its urban environment. I was really quite impressed with his vast knowledge of the park itself and all the living things.
I really did not expect much from the Bioblitz, but I’m sure glad that it was more fun than I thought it would be. Taking an academic approach to these types of subjects is important of course, but taking the time to enjoy the work that you’re doing is much easier to do in this field of study. Not many job fields can claim that they can actually have a little fun while they work. I can’t wait for the next time we take another trip like that for our IDC class.
