BioBlitz is a 24-hour event in which teams of scientists, volunteers, and community members join forces to find, identify, and learn about as many local plant and animal species as possible. National Geographic is helping conduct a BioBlitz in a different park each year throughout the decade leading up to the U.S. National Park Service Centennial in 2016.

In 2011 BioBlitz will be held at Saguaro National Park in Tucson, Arizona.

Project founders organized BioBlitz as a way for communities to learn about the biological diversity of local parks and to better understand how to protect them. BioBlitz events give adults, kids, and teens the opportunity to join biologists in the field, participate in bona fide research expeditions, and learn from the experts about biodiversity—both around the planet and in our own backyards.