Blockbuster Survey 2017

Training

Map

• 2017 PRISM Regional Map Showing Assigned Grid Squares [8/28/17] (PDF)
• 2017 PRISM Blockbuster Status Map [8/28/17] (PDF)

Training

Training sessions for Terrestrial species surveys have completed for this year. Email us at invasives@nynjtc.org if you'd like to be on the list to get notified when we start next year's BlockBuster survey. You are welcome to self-study the materials below and select a block to survey this year if you feel comfortable. Let us know what block you would like to work in.

• 2017 Training Presentation - Protocol (PDF)

• 2017 Training Presentation - Plant ID (PDF)

• CCE Botany Language Fact Sheet (PDF)

For aquatic species surveys, see AIS training events posted on our Events calendar.

Resources:

• 2016-2018 Focal Species list - this is the list of species we are surveying for (note terrestrial surveys and aquatic surveys are run separately with separate methods)

• Quick ID Guide (PDF)- pictorial quick guide. Print double-sided and cut pages in half horizontally to create the guide.

• Individual species pages with links to fact sheets

• Mistaken Identity Guide (PDF) - covers common look alikes for many of our focal species

Volunteering

If you are not already a CCE Master Gardener Volunteer, we would like you to register as a New York-New Jersy Trail Conference volunteer.

• Fill out the NYNJTC Volunteer form here - and return before going out to do your survey (scan and email to invasives@nynjtc.org  or mail to: Linda Rohleder, 600 Ramapo Valley Rd, Mahwah, NJ 07430)

If you will be working in a New York State Park, please fill out the Volunteer Service Agreement for the park

If you will be working in a New York State Department of Conservation (NYSDEC) lands, please fill out the DEC Volunteer Service form.

IMPORTANT: these forms must be submitted *prior to* surveying.

Data Collection

Survey Protocols -Detailed instructions on how to collect your data:

• Main Protocol

• Opportunistic Protocol

• Segment Diagram - A visual to help you when traversing and recording data.

• Abundance Diagram - A visual to help you when recording plant species abundance along your segment.

Thank you to Jonathan Rosenthal and Radka Wildova from the Ecological Research Institute for designing our survey protocol and to Irene Voce and Tom Hobbick for designing our data sheets!

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) Page - clarifications based on questions asked by participants.

Data sheets

This year we have introduced a new data collecting method, using the smartphone app Survey123.
It uses intuitive digital surveys to collect your findings. For those who are not using this, links to the paper data sheets are below:

• Main Survey Data Sheet

• Main Survey Data Sheet Sample

• Opportunistic Survey Sheet

Tracking Your Volunteer Hours

It's important to us to evaluate the design and success of our programs that we collect information about how much time you spent working on the BlockBuster survey project.  Please keep track of the amount of time you spend preparing to survey (other than the training session), travelling to survey, surveying and entering data.

Enter your volunteer hours here (you can enter multiple times)

Submitting Your Data

Steps 3 must also be completed if you are not using Survey123 and have taken photos as part of the survey.

1. Return your forms to one of the following CCE offices or the Trail Conference:

• CCE Rockland, 10 Patriot Hill Dr, Stony Point, NY 10980

• CCE Putnam, 1 Geneva Rd, Brewster, NY 10509

• CCE Dutchess, 2715 Route 44, Millbrook, NY 12545

• NY-NJ Trail Conference, Linda Rohleder, 600 Ramapo Valley Rd, Mahwah, NJ 07430

2. Export and email your points/tracks from your GPS unit to: invasives@nynjtc.org

Or, return your borrowed GPS unit with points on it so the lending organization can extract the points and submit them.

3. Photos should be emailed to: invasives@nynjtc.org. Make sure not to send too many in one email.