BioBlitz brings volunteers to assess biodiversity on Rowen site

Allison Floyd June 3, 2026

Odum School postdoctoral associate Phillip Bumpers (MS ’14, PhD ’24) checks a net as part of an event assessing the biodiversity on a tract of land in Gwinnett County. The BioBlitz, held in April 2026, was a partnership between Odum School and the Rowen Foundation, which will develop 2,000 acres along Georgia Highway 316. (Photo: Agustin Orozco-Tello)

Four dozen volunteers came out on a sunny Saturday in April to survey biodiversity across the Rowen site, a 2,000-acre expanse of piedmont on Georgia Highway 316 in Gwinnett County that is slated for development as a mixed-use business and residential site.

Teaming up with the Odum School of Ecology, the Rowen Foundation invited professional researchers and hobby naturalists to survey key areas of the campus.

Throughout the morning, a crowd of around four dozen people identified as many species of plants, animals, fungi and other organisms as they could.

Rowen | UGA BioBlitz — Ecology master’s student Erik Jones looks for wildlife at the BioBlitz at the Rowen property in April 2026. (Photo: Agustin Orozco-Tello)

“The site has several forest communities, a lot of mixed hardwood and some pine, perched wetlands, and multiple creeks,” said Assistant Professor Charles van Rees, who helped coordinate the event. “It’s a diverse group of habitats.”

Organizers promoted the BioBlitz at the University of Georgia and among citizen groups in Gwinnett County.

The day of the event, volunteers gathered early, learned about the process and split into teams, each headed by a leader with expertise in a particular subject area.

Teams then fanned out and, using apps eBird and iNaturalist, chronicled the species living on the site.

In all, around 50 people participated in the morning of citizen-science research, collecting data that shows what species live on the undeveloped property as well as the types of habitat on the acreage.

“We had lots of UGA students come out but also volunteers from local church groups and individuals from the nearby community. It was a good cross-section of volunteers,” van Rees said.

The group’s work dovetails with long-term monitoring underway by UGA, Georgia Gwinnett College and Spelman College to assess water quality and macroinvertebrate life on the undeveloped tract.

“By conducting the BioBlitz now, before extensive development has taken place, Odum School scientists will be able to advise Rowen about particularly sensitive species,” said Dean Mark D. Hunter, Odum Chair in Ecology. “We’ll be able to compare the site’s ecology before and after development, all in service of Rowen’s vision as an environmentally sustainable campus.”

Rowen owns the 2,000 acres and is planning a new multi-use development designed to foster discoveries in agricultural, medical and environmental sciences at the intersection of the Atlanta, Athens and Gainesville areas.