Are you a Detroiter who likes science? Are you curious about what’s growing in your backyard, what’s in your water, and how climate change is impacting your neighborhood?

Then you’re in luck! We’ve got a summer full of activities coming your way. Planet Detroit is thrilled to partner with Graham Media Group to embark on a summer-long citizen science campaign! We’ll be offering ways to help get you thinking about the outdoors and indoors — and how your local environment and health are connected — while also keeping you safe and socially distant.

FIRST UP: Nature in your Neighborhood – A Metro Detroit BioBlitz for the month of June!

OUR GOAL: To find out who are the plants, animals, fungi, & other miscellaneous critters in your neighborhood.

How to participate:

1. Sign up for inaturalist.org and download the app for your iPhone or Android device.
2. THIS STEP IS IMPORTANT: Navigate to the project called “Detroiters Do Science: Nature in Your Neighborhood.” If you skip this step, your observations won’t count!
3. Head to your favorite local nature spot–your neighborhood park, the empty lot up the street, even your backyard–and start recording observations by taking photos with your phone.
4. What should you record? Any living thing! A plant, an animal, a fungus–as long as it’s alive, it’s fair game!
5. Repeat. The top 10 users with the most observations will win a DETROITERS DO SCIENCE T-SHIRT.

Here’s a video on how to make an observation. More help here.