BioBlitz May 16 & 17

One of the metro area’s key waterways, LaVista’s Thompson Creek, will be the site for a two-day “BioBlitz” focused on sustainability and Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education organized by the Nebraska Watershed Network, a student-driven group at UNO committed to changing the face of engagement in the state.

Running Friday, May 16, and Saturday, May 17, the Nebraska Watershed Network is partnering with the UNO Office of STEM Education, the City of Papillion, the City of LaVista and Papillion-LaVista High School, among others, to partner with the community in citizen-driven engagement and research.

On Friday, May 16, students from Papillion-LaVista High School will team with UNO students to engage in five research along the Thompson Creek watershed including water quality testing, methods for urban sustainability, identification of water-based insects and water-powered rockets.

On Saturday, May 17, members of the Papillion-LaVista community as well as the larger Omaha metro will meet at LaVista’s Central Park, just northeast 84th Street and Giles Road, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. At the event, the cities of LaVista and Papillion will join the Nebraska Watershed Network in providing information, offering sustainability demonstrations, leading interactive workshops and facilitating hand-on activities for children.

Saturday’s event will also provide tours of Thompson Creek given by regional experts. Visitors are encouraged to come to the event and stay as long as they like.

There will also be a research component to the weekend’s events where many of the projects the community participate in will be used to collect data that scientists from UNO can use to offer solutions to keeping the Thompson Creek area healthy and sustainable.

The LaVista BioBlitz is modeled after similar BioBlitz events around the world where scientists and citizens engage in large, concerted biological surveys over the course of one or two days. BioBlitzes exist all over the United States and have been held in countries like New Zeland, Spain, Portugal and Taiwan.

The Nebraska Watershed Network was founded at UNO in 2012 as a student-driven organization within the Department of Biology. The Nebraska Watershed Network works to match student participants with community stakeholders to address community concerns regarding natural water spaces and the life found in those spaces.

The Thompson Creek is a spring-fed tributary of the larger Papillion Creek. The Thompson Creek was created through a channeling project during the 1960s and 1970s.

For more information on the LaVista BioBlitz, please visit http://www.cityoflavista.org.

For more information on the Nebraska Watershed Network, please contact Charley Reed, UNO media relations coordinator, at unonews@unomaha.edu or by phone at 402.554.2129.

About the University of Nebraska at Omaha

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