Media Roundup: bugs & butterflies
Big Bug Bioblitz & Mowing for Monarchs
Catch up on all the coverage:
on NPR
in the Northern Virginia Daily
on WHSV-TV
Data collection doesn’t have to be dull. This month, in partnership with the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, the State Arboretum of Virginia, and Mountain Vista Governor’s School, we hosted a Big Bug Bioblitz at the Shenandoah County Landfill. Sustainability Matters’ Science Team volunteers joined MVGS students and professionals from the Smithsonian, the Arboretum, and NRCS (Natural Resources Conservation Service) in a massive morning of collection, documentation, and fun. Some people even came dressed for the occasion.
The teams surveyed insects from the original Making Trash Bloom pilot plot, the Phase 2 Making Trash Bloom site, and a control site, as well as from the test area for our brand new project, Mowing for Monarchs. Mowing for Monarchs focuses on finding the best time to mow milkweed intensive areas (like the 70 acres this landfill eventually plans to convert into trash cells) to maximize habitat for monarch butterflies and other beneficials, while still controlling invasive plants.
The product of the Bioblitz - coolers full of ziploc-ed insects - now reposes in the Smithsonian’s freezer, waiting to be counted and analyzed when the same team reconvenes this fall or winter. The resultant data will be vital to creating scalable models for both Making Trash Bloom and Mowing for Monarchs.
