On June 12 at 3 p.m., scientists and surveyors scattered across the 220 acres of the Wehr Nature Center in Franklin for a 24-hour search for plants and animals. It was the 11th annual BioBlitz.
The Milwaukee Public Museum — the event’s mastermind — calls it a celebration of biodiversity, where scientists work together to see how many species they can find.
At the same time, the public gets to watch the action and learn about things like Wisconsin’s bats and bird banding.
There’s evidence stepping into nature can profoundly impact your life.
Just ask Brooke Gilley — she has tromped Wehr Nature Center’s terrain for years.
On a walk a week or so before the BioBlitz, she spotted an iconic butterfly fluttering through its oak savanna.
“Oh! A tiger swallowtail,” Gilley says.
Gilley is a full-time naturalist here. She’s proud of Wehr’s work — including its volunteer-driven phenology group. The crew shows up Monday mornings like clockwork to jot down what’s blooming, flying or popping out of the earth.
“We do keep track of that data from many, many years. For the most part, they are focused on plants and birds, but we’re expanding too,” she says.
Gilley says what scientists uncover in this year’s BioBlitz adds to the records Wehr volunteers and staff have been keeping. And that helps fine-tune how they manage its habitats.
“Making sure that Wehr Nature Center can be as biodiverse as it possibly can be. If we don’t know this flower, or plant or bird exists here, we cannot take care of it,” Gilley says.
Julia Colby with the Milwaukee Public Museum orchestrates the BioBlitz. She loves seeing scientists do what they love to do.
“Nobody got into science to go sit behind a desk and fill out paperwork or write grants. So I like giving them the opportunity — yeah just go out there, go do your thing, have fun with your friends, go play,” Colby says.
Every year, the BioBlitz focuses on a different natural area. In 2025, scientists tallied more than 1,700 species — from spiders to wild asparagus and poison hemlock — at the Aldo Leopold Foundation outside Baraboo.
“And then I like the community portion, the public portion you give somebody, to go look at the natural world in a different way,” Colby says.
She calls her 2026 BioBlitz partners at Wehr Nature Center programming rockstars.
Brooke Gilley was looking forward to co-leading a pollinator hike.
She says having the chance to chat with a scientist or learn more about butterflies or bumblebees can be magical — even life-changing.
“That might spark someone to get involved in doing community sciences or maybe spark them to decide 'Oh I want to check out that career path,'” Gilley says.
She experienced that connection.
When she was a kid, Gilley visited Wehr Nature Center and met a naturalist named Bev who took Gilley under her wing. “Bev has been here since 1992 and I started volunteering here at Wehr Nature Center in 1993,” she says.
Gilley was 11 years old and she was hooked, “And I’m so grateful for that and I decided I wanted to be a naturalist. So now I’m working here full-time,” she says.
Gilley is passionate about planting seeds that might inspire others.
”It comes down to the passing of the torch, so they can continue to create biodiverse habitat and make sure those species are not lost,” she says.
What better tool she says, than the BioBlitz.
Magic did happen at the BioBlitz at Wehr Nature Center.
Not only did scientists identify over 1,300 species — public participation reached an all-time high.
Felicity Deichsel's parents of Antoich, Illinois surprised her, taking her to the BioBlitz to celebrate her 11th birthday.
Felicity's dream is to be a mycologist — a scientist who studies fungi. Not only did she meet a real live mycologist at the Bioblitz, Felicity joined her for a fungi walk and became a member of the Wisconsin Mycological Society.
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