Bret Harte Elementary School Bioblitz and Stewardship Workday

Join us for a Bioblitz at Bret Harte Elementary School where we will learn about the plants and animals living in the new Green Schoolyard
This will be the first Bioblitz in a series of workdays at four San Francisco Unified School District Green Schoolyard projects we are working on in collaboration with SFUSD, CalFire, and other local partners.

A bioblitz is a community science project in which participants identify as many species as possible in a short time frame. This helps with monitoring of endangered species, developing an understanding of local biodiversity, and guiding conservation efforts.

No experience needed, just an excitement for nature and gardening!

Workday Leaders:

Ella Bhat and Rachel Maunus are Nature in the City’s Green Schoolyard Program leads and are in the process of building stewardship programs at four SFUSD schools. They are working closely with school staff and community members to increase equitable knowledge of and access to green spaces in the neighborhood.

Russ Aguilar is a San Francisco science educator, naturalist, and Bay Area native with immense knowledge of local wildlife. He will be helping participants identify and explore what we observe around us. He began his career in environmental education with the National Park Service, which took him to 6 states and the District of Columbia and inspired him to connect urban communities to the natural resources we all share.

Details: Workday will include an iNaturalist tutorial and a challenge to see how many unique species we can identify as we tour the newly completed Green Schoolyard.
We will also spend some time removing invasive weeds to ensure the survival of intentionally planted plants.

Preparation: Bring a smart phone if you have one, ideally with the iNaturalist app already loaded!

Gloves, tools, and lunch will be provided.

Transportation: Street parking is available on Gilman. Accessible via the Muni 29.

Weather: Heavy rain will cancel. We will send out an announcement the morning of the walk if we decide to cancel.