Astronomy Night and BioBlitz at WRPP
Geoff Benn • January 9, 2025
Telescopes with Jupiter visible above the trees in the background
On December 7th, Tuleyome staff members Nate and Geoff hosted an Astronomy Night at Woodland Regional Park Preserve. Sierra College professor and astronomer Barry Rice was on hand with telescopes to lead the event – participants were able to see the rings of Saturn and the moons of Jupiter! The event was well-attended, with a Woodland Cub Scout Tiger Den coming out to complete an elective adventure on the night sky.
View over the pond after the rain cleared up.
On December 14th, Tuleyome staff member Geoff hosted a Fall BioBlitz and Nature Scavenger Hunt at Woodland Regional Park Preserve. A BioBlitz is a community science initiative to document biodiversity at a specific place and time using a tool called iNaturalist which allows users to upload and identify observations. Despite some rainy and windy weather conditions in the morning, people came out and participated in the event, resulting in 36 observations of 24 different species. Our Youth Boot Bank was also on hand at the event and made several hiking boot loans to kids.
Summary of the iNaturalist observations recorded during the event.
Map of the observations recorded on iNaturalist during the event.
Be sure to check out events page to what we’ve got coming up!
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A beaver at Conaway Ranch We’ve got new footage from our game cameras at Conaway Ranch! This camera site was chosen by 4 th graders from Dingle Elementary during a recent field trip to Conaway. The camera is near the otter slide we’ve previously filmed, but is a few feet away from the entrance to the slide, allowing us to film the animals as they approach. We saw beaver, otter, a fox, a raccoon, and more! Click here to watch the video . Tuleyome works with Conaway Preservation Group to offer educational programs at Conaway Ranch, including programs for K-12 groups and the general public. If you have any questions about the game camera footage or our programs at Conaway, please reach out to Education Associate Geoff Benn at gbenn@tuleyome.org.
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