Great Lakes Literacy’s 2025 Great Lakes BioBlitz

Students, families, and colleagues are invited to celebrate Earth Day with the Center for Great Lakes Literacy’s annual Great Lakes BioBlitz.

This free event is an opportunity to engage youth and the public in community science, collect data to support biodiversity research and conservation, and learn more about the organisms in the Great Lakes Basin. Anyone in a U.S. State or Canadian province that has land within the Great Lakes region is welcome to participate.

What is the Great Lakes BioBlitz?
A BioBlitz is an event to observe, identify, and record as many different, non-domesticated species as possible along the Great Lakes coastline during a specified period of time.

When is the Great Lakes BioBlitz?
The BioBlitz begins on Earth Day, April 22 and it runs for 4 weeks, ending on May 19.

How do I participate in the Great Lakes BioBlitz?
The beauty of this project is that you decide your level of participation. Take an afternoon to explore and document some plants or wildlife in an area, or pick a location to return to weekly, or set a goal to find something new every day – there are many ways to participate.

If you take multiple images of the same individual organism, at the same time, in the same place, please post the images as a group (a single observation within iNaturalist).  

If you take multiple images of the same organism at different times or places, please post the images as different observations within iNaturalist.

In other words, an observation should include date, time, location, and organism identity (to the best of your ability).

You may participate as an individual, a family, a class, or other group. 

1. Visit iNaturalist or download the app onto your phone and create an account.
2. Visit and become a member of the 2025 Great Lakes BioBlitz project
3. Get outside, get out your cameras, and start making and posting observations! As you are able, verify other participants’ Great Lakes BioBlitz Project postings.

Want to learn more about the Great Lake BioBlitz?
Visit the Great Lakes BioBlitz Educator Site for more information about the project and educator resources for engaging youth in this wonderful learning experience!

Why participate?
There are many benefits of becoming a BioBlitz wizard, here are just a few:

• Engage in an outdoor activity, discover the wild living things in the world around you, form and strengthen a place-based connection
• Join a global community of observers, learners, and scientists passionate about biodiversity and the Great Lakes
• Contribute to a global database of organisms. Observations made on iNaturalists contribute to research, conservation, and educational outreach programs.