By Anne Levin

A collaborative effort to track biodiversity in Princeton Battlefield State Park is underway, and the organizations involved are counting on the public to help make the project a success. Announced just a few days ago, the BioBlitz, which continues through August 31, has already recorded more than 300 observations from enthusiastic participants about flora and fauna in the historic park where the Battle of Princeton took place.

“I’m pretty jazzed about it,” said Will Krakauer, resource interpretive specialist at the park. “All the public has to do is get outside and get to the park, take pictures of what they find interesting, and upload them.”

Part of a multi-year effort to keep track of what blooms at the Battlefield, the BioBlitz is designed to establish a baseline inventory of wildlife and native ecosystems. Sustainable Princeton, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP), and the American Battlefield Trust are partnering with the Princeton Battlefield Society (PBS) to launch this first in a series of annual events at the park. Using the community science platform iNaturalist, volunteers can document plants, insects, birds, fungi, and other species to create a long-term record of biodiversity as the park undergoes one of its most significant ecological restoration efforts in decades.

“Anyone who has driven down Mercer Road past the park recently will have noticed that it doesn’t look the same as it did a year ago,” said Krakauer. “This started as a recommendation from one of our consultants a few months ago when we started talking to the public about plans to rehabilitate the Battlefield, and the ecological impact we wanted to measure as we conducted these changes.”

BioBlitzes are nothing new to local nature enthusiasts. During the pandemic, Sustainable Princeton led a similar initiative with Princeton University. “It was a really popular thing at the time,” said Elana Berk, the nonprofit’s communications and outreach manager. “Going out to take photos with iNaturalist was a wildly pandemic thing to do, and it’s good to continually do it. People still add observations to that catalog of species when they are out hiking [on the campus].”

The Battlefield BioBlitz is unique because it refers to a very specific period of time. “We want to catch it before it changes,” said Berk. “It’s really nice to get this baseline. When we were approached about taking part, it was very specific for August, because tree work will start in September.”

The project aims to rehabilitate more than 50 acres of open grassland to native meadow, reducing mowing, removing invasive grasses and woody vegetation, and creating resilient habitat for grassland birds, pollinators, and other wildlife; make visible and protect important cultural landscape features along the historic William Clarke Lane through the preservation of high-value trees and the selective removal of dead, ash, invasive, and hazard trees along its alignment; plant over 200 native trees in areas affected by emerald ash borer, restoring historic spatial character and providing visual screening; and install the William and Ann Clarke Commemorative Orchard, with over 50 heirloom apple trees.

The idea is to improve ecological health and historic landscape character, while the BioBlitz, to be conducted at intervals over the next five years, will document biodiversity over time.

Krakauer regards the orchard as a central piece of the story of the Battle of Princeton, which took place on January 3, 1777. “It saw some of the fiercest and bloodiest fighting of the day, and of course is where British bayonets felled General Mercer,” he said in a press release. “We are excited about bringing an orchard back to the park, not just for its historic significance and interpretive value, but for the impact that heirloom apple trees will have on our native environment. Birds, bugs, and mammals will benefit from it, as will the public.”

Volunteers can join the effort by downloading the free iNaturalist app to iPhones or Android phones, visit inaturalist.org/projects/Princeton-battlefield-bioblitz-2026, or pick up handouts at the park. Participants can take as many photos as they like of flora and fauna, and upload it to the iNaturalist app.

“A BioBlitz helps create a snapshot of the ecosystem at a period in time. People start to learn the different species that make up our local ecosystem and begin to appreciate our unique bioregion,” said Christine Symington, Sustainable Princeton’s executive director. “The iNaturalist app is great because it also creates a catalog of observations to be used for ecological research purposes. We hope to track an increase in native species over the course of a few years. This year is particularly crucial because it is creating a baseline before any of the major upgrades begin. The ecological upgrades create habitats, which will increase our native insect population, which provides vital food for native birds and other animals. Natural history is history.”

For more information, visit sustainableprinceton.org.