LOUISVILLE, Colo. — Louisville officials, Colorado State researchers and local volunteers will spend the week documenting all the living species that call the city's open space home.
Through a partnership between the city and the Colorado Natural Heritage Program (CNHP) at Colorado State University (CSU), teams will assess more than 800 acres of natural land to determine the health of the space.
This type of survey is known as a "BioBlitz." According to the city, this week's event is different from traditional surveys due to its "scientific rigor."
"Field surveys will be led by biologists using standardized protocols, producing high-quality data with long-term value for conservation planning," the city explained in a release.
The 2025 BioBlitz event is scheduled to run from June 9 through June 13.
"We’ve done some smaller-scale BioBlitzes over kind of the last 10 years on the city, and that helps us understand what species we have present on a property," Nathaniel Goeckner, natural resource manager with Louisville's Open Space, told Denver7.
The goal is to create a detailed database that informs land management decisions.
“This BioBlitz will give us great data on what species we have present, and then that allows us to then cater kind of our land management to what would be best to provide ecosystem health to those individual species," Goeckner said.
A dozen CSU scientists, a dozen Louisville staff members and roughly 120 volunteers will participate in this event. Jessica Cheadle, program and volunteer Coordinator for the Colorado Natural Heritage Program, highlighted the importance of involving the community in these types of surveys.
"These events are not only just to get the plants, but it's also to see what's here, and to kind of engage with the public and be like, 'Hey, learn about where you're living and what's here, and how you can be a steward of the land,'" Cheadle said.
CSU botanist Jennifer Ackerfield told Denver7 the grassy fields can be surprisingly diverse.
"We started here at 9:30 and we've gone, what, 200 feet, it's 11 now. But in that time, we probably documented at least 50 different plant species in this really short little range here," Ackerfield said.
Things they find can also provide historical data.
"This was once a homestead. People planted garlic here, and it still persists," Ackerfield said.
The findings from the BioBlitz will serve as records for future ecological preservation efforts.
“We’re looking at everything from plants to small mammals to mollusks to insects,” Goeckner said. “The community really values these open spaces and really wants to be a part of it. It shows, kind of, the passion that our community has for all types of critters, all types of plants.”
The public is invited to an open house on Friday, June 13, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Louisville Recreation and Senior Center to celebrate the discoveries made and to hear from experts.
