What better than a morning tracking and identifying beautiful butterflies and dragonflies? With this survey, you’ll join volunteer naturalists in route surveys at wetlands, meadows, forests and other habitats.

NOTE: A route survey travels along a prescribed route and stops on a specific schedule for the survey. An area search tries to do an exhaustive survey within a particular geographic area.

You’ll record species and numbers of individual butterflies and dragonflies – plus species of birds, other wildlife and plants.

As of March 2008, the participants in the butterfly/dragonfly surveys and general surveys (described above) have conducted over one thousand surveys and contributed tens of thousands of volunteer hours. They have documented:

• 245 species of birds,
• 80 species of butterflies,
• 80 species of dragonflies, and many other species,
• as well as information on the phenology of local blooming plants.

Data have been used to inform advocacy essential to assuring proper management of these special sites and their continued protection as important wildlife habitat.

Daily, annual, and other periodic reports are made available to the participants and other interested individuals and agencies, including Fairfax County Park Authority, George Mason University and agencies of the U.S. Interior Department.