On June 17-18, 2022, Plants of Concern volunteers and staff participated in the Lake Plain Botany Blitz in northeastern Illinois. Amateur and professional botanists alike set out to survey the flora of the lake plain and search for rare plants. This post will highlight the results of the Botany Blitz! As of August 8th, the Lake Plain Botany Blitz iNaturalist project has 1493 observations of 451 species submitted by 19 observers! Although we set out to observe plants, we documented a variety of fauna, as well. Comprising the 452 species we observed are 326 plant species, 77 insects, 16 birds, 13 arachnids, 5 mammals, 4 reptiles, 3 fungi, 3 fish, and 2 amphibians. A big thanks to the 167 people who helped confirm species IDs. Additional thanks to ecologist Ken Klick (Lake County Forest Preserve District), the Preservation Foundation, and Plants of Concern community scientist, volunteer steward, and artist Kathleen Garness for organizing and supporting this event and making it a success.

Check out Grant Fessler's Botany Blitz summary post on iNaturalist to see more photos from the event!