Displaying items by tag: jaimie matzko
Smokies all-taxa counters make beeline for 2026
Jaimie Matzcko uses a smartphone to document plants and an insect community on the side of Mount LeConte in Great Smoky Mountains National Park during an outing to document life as part of the All-Taxa Biodiversity Inventory. Discover Life in America’s two-year strategic plan calls for a greater emphasis on insects, especially bees, in the national park. Thomas Fraser/Hellbender Press
DLIA insect-heavy two-year strategic plan sparks next era of discovery for mountain life
Jaimie Matzcko is Discover Life in America communications coordinator.
GATLINBURG — Discover Life in America (DLiA), a non-profit organization committed to cataloging biodiversity and supporting science-based conservation in the southern Appalachians, announced its 2026–2028 strategic plan, and it’s heavy on the quest to better document the six-legged denizens of the Smokies.
This roadmap strengthens DLiA’s focus on leveraging decades of taxonomic research to impact conservation, education, and ecosystem resilience. Since 1998, DLiA has partnered with Great Smoky Mountains National Park to manage an All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory, a project that aims to document every species in the park.
The two-year-plan calls for the launch of the first native bee assessment in the national park “to assess bee health and drive their conservation.”
Hunt mushrooms in the Smokies for the 2024 Continental Mycoblitz
This event was postponed on a previous date.
GATLINBURG — Partner with Discover Life in America to find and collect mushrooms and fungi specimens for identification and DNA sequencing and learn more about the diversity of Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
Register here for the event, set for 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Oct. 16 at Twin Creeks, 1316 Cherokee Orchard Road in Gatlinburg.
The fungi roundup is in conjunction with the Summer 2024 Continental Mycoblitz, a continentwide fungi data-collection project.
Expect a 1-2 mile easy to moderate hike. Email Jaimie Matzko, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., for more information.