OU’S BIOBLITZ 2006 TO BE HELD AT QUARTZ MOUNTAIN

NORMAN – Nature enthusiasts soon will get the opportunity to race around Quartz Mountain Nature Park and the Altus-Lugert State Wildlife Management Area over a 24-hour period, identifying as many living creatures as possible from the local habitats.

The sixth annual BioBlitz, scheduled for Friday and Saturday, Sept. 15-16, is an inventory of biological diversity in a designated area of public land.  Organized by the Oklahoma Biological Survey in the University of Oklahoma’s College of Arts and Sciences, the two-day event calls together volunteers from around the state and region to collect and identify as many different species of plant and animal life as they can find.

According to the Oklahoma Biological Survey’s Web site, “BioBlitz aims to educate people about the diversity of plant and animal life in a local area through hands-on experiences and nature interpretation.”

Numerous varieties of species and wildlife are located in the Quartz Mountain and Altus-Lugert areas. Some examples that volunteers may come across during this year’s inventory include Sugar Maple, Oak and Cedar trees; colorful lichens; tallgrass, shortgrass and mixed grass prairie vegetation; lush forest vegetation; dozens of species of birds; bats; reptiles; and even the Plateau Live Oak, which only can be found in the Wichita and Quartz Mountains and in central Texas.

BioBlitz, which occurs in a different Oklahoma community each year, has previously been held in Norman, Broken Bow, Woodward, Okmulgee and Tulsa. For more information about BioBlitz or to register online, visit www.biosurvey.ou.edu/biotiddly.html or call Ian Butler at (405) 325-1985.