The groundbreaking All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory (ATBI) project at Great Smoky Mountains National Park is just the first of many future ATBIs planned throughout the nation. An ATBI is a concentrated effort to determine all species within a given area within a short time frame. The information gathered from these inventories will inform critical government conservation agency decisions and policies, in addition to contributing to our scientific knowledge and appreciation of our country's tremendous biological wealth. Several parks throughout the U.S. have initiated inventories, including Acadia National Park in Maine, Rock Creek Park in Washington, D.C., and Point Reyes National Seashore near San Francisco, California. Click here to see a map.

—Taryn L. Salinas