Plant+Watch+at+JTNP

Joshua Tree National Park is looking for “citizen scientists” to help document effects of climate change at the plant-species level. These "citizen scientists" will regularly hike trails and observe plants along the way for climate change monitoring projects. The park has tagged plants and trees along certain trails to monitor how these plants respond to environmental cues throughout the seasons. Hikers will observe whether the plants have new leaves, flowers, or fruits on the date of their hike. The data gathering hikers can then enter this data in a phone app or simple webpage. Anyone can download the aggregate data from a website and interpret it. Hikers who wish to participate in gathering data can become official “Volunteers in the Park” (VIP) and receive complimentary access to the park for this study. (Back)

More information: https://www.usanpn.org/cpp/JOTR https://www.usanpn.org/cpp/JOTR Organizations involved: Besides JTNP, the organizations that volunteers will be working with is the California Phenology Project and the National Phenolgy Network. These two organizations are working together to organize "citizen scientist" to gather data on seasonal cycles that occur in plants and animals. The Califorina Phenology Project's activities makes up one fifth of the data collected by the National Phenology Network. The California Phenology Project provides additional detailed information on the species found in California. https://www.usanpn.org/cpp/ The National Phenology Network provides the website that records the data and studies more plant species plus animals species than the CPP. https://www.usanpn.org/home