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Active Local Phenology Networks
Here you will find our list of Local Phenology Programs using Nature's Notebook. If a group listed has a blank entry or is missing information, they have not updated their information with our USA-NPN NCO staff in 2019.
Click here to view a map of all of our Certified Local Phenology Leaders.
If you are a Local Phenology Leader who would like to complete or update your LPPs listing, please contact groups@usanpn.org.
The Dorothy Molter Museum preserves and interprets Northwoods wilderness heritage through learning opportunities inspired by Dorothy Molter. By providing an opportunity to understand the seasonal changes of Northwoods plant and animal species, we connect our visitors to the landscape where Dorothy lived and encourage good stewardship of it.
The Dorothy Molter Museum has established and implemented a phenology program using Nature's Notebook to increase annual repeat visitation and provides opportunities for long-term partnerships with volunteers and regional schools.
Ely
MN
This LPP is working with students.
Partner Website:
First Observation:
10/2019
Downeast Lakes Land Trust in Grand Lake Streams, Maine, is using Nature's Notebook to expand the geographic range of their phenology and bird migration project, which may turn into other projects as their data and program develop further. They also seek to inform local partners about the importance of phenology data on their land and how they can help and contribute to their own conservation goals. Also they aim to engage volunteers and participants on how they can become involved and easily contribute to science by using Nature's Notebook.
Grand Lake Streams, Maine
Partner Website:
First Observation:
10/2017
Dr. Mettler's Phenology Group at Black Hills State University is using Nature's Notebook to engage our online students with the Nectar Connectors Campaign during summer 2020 term.
Spearfish
SD
This LPP is working with under-served communities.
First Observation:
03/2021
The Duke Forest is 7,000+ acres of mostly forested land owned and managed by Duke University as a teaching and research laboratory. Established in 1931, our mission is to facilitate research that addresses fundamental and applied questions across a variety of disciplines and to aid in the instruction of all students in their pursuit of knowledge, especially regarding the stewardship of our natural resources. Management of the Forest is guided by a comprehensive plan that promotes the Forest’s academic mission while ensuring the protection of its natural resources.
The Duke Forest also provides education and outreach through tours and volunteer events and serves as an outdoor recreation destination for the local community. Duke Forest Phenology in Chapel Hill, NC is engaging the broader public community with the Duke Forest Teaching and Research Laboratory through science-based initiatives. We are working on a citizen science program for monitoring herpetofauna on the Duke Forest and are now creating a program for monitoring spring phenophases for three common Duke Forest trees. We plan to use the functionality and resources provided by Nature's Notebook to structure our program.
Chapel Hill
NC
This LPP is working with students.
Partner Website:
First Observation:
01/2019
Earth Discovery Institute Phenology Project in San Diego, CA is using Nature's Notebook to improve representation of San Diego County's flora and fauna in the National Phenology Network database. They aim to increase citizen science field participation and encourage users to collect regionally significant habitat and climate data. Their organization, EDI, is a non-profit that engages students from park-poor communities, volunteers, and recreational users through science education and community outreach programs that are integrated with regional conservation and research efforts and encourage the use of modern technologies to accomplish these goals with the Ecology Meets Technology program.
San Diego, CA
This LPP is working with students.
Partner Website:
First Observation:
10/2017
Earthwise Aware (EwA) is a Nature conservation nonprofit in Massachusetts and the NPN addresses our standards for standardized scientific protocol rigor, global data, and open science. We focus on urban biodiversity and how to protect it. Concretely, we bring climate and biodiversity knowledge/science, ecological ethics, and environmental leadership to the core of communities and organizations. One of our main outreach is through Co-creative Biodiversity & Climate citizen/participatory science programs to engage communities in helping, contributing to, collaborating in scientific endeavors.
EwA participatory science principles are to:
* Advance Biodiversity & Climate research
* Give Science back to the people
Our participatory science pillars are:
* Species & ecosystems knowledge
* Ecological ethics
* Open and global science
* Democratization of science
We run our climate and biodiversity program at 4 fixed sites in Middlesex County (Massachusetts). At all locations, we actively record phenology via Nature’s Notebook. We use other global platforms for other kinds of biodiversity recording. We collaborate with experts and scientists and study various habitats at different levels (species occurrence & abundance, phenology, plant community assessment, etc.). The intent is to build a continuous natural history of the place through habitat/species surveillance/monitoring and phenology recording, and aligning as well with standards as developed by GEO BON (global biodiversity observation network).
Our program engages its participants in studying birds, amphibians, insects, fungi, plants, etc. We also pay attention to the relationships between species and reflect on the meaning and implications of these relationships in relation to the forest, the cities around, and further away. This intimate system-focused exploration helps to build a deep understanding of the place through rapid habitat-changing conditions and over time for the benefit of our sites, its scientists, and ultimately our communities. There are several species that we are monitoring among which are some rare or endangered species (and for which we record information for our local scientist connections).
With time and with a growing number of participants, we will increase the list of species we monitor.
Somerville, Medford, Winchester
MA
Partner Website:
First Observation:
07/2018
Impact Statement:
2018 Impact Statement
Earthwise Aware (EwA) Biodiversity & Climate Citizen Science fills important biodiversity and phenology data gaps. Our projects are about co-creative conservation using open and global science protocols and tools -protocols that lead to comparable and usable data, accessible and transparent to scientists and the public worldwide.
For our phenology studies, we use Nature’s Notebook that we endorse for its rigor and openness. Specifically, we value the standardization effort of the protocol across the U.S., therefore, leading to outcomes that we -as well as anyone interested- can aggregate and compare with other institutions’ output. Scientific rigor and openness are critical to science, and this was a factor for adopting Nature’s Notebook.
Since we started in 2018, we recorded about 15,000 data points, which aggregated with about 20,000 biodiversity records, start to establish a continuous natural history of the urban wildlife sites that we are studying. Our 'system' approach is unique and an acknowledged differentiator. Our model is inclusive and democratic; it bridges expertises and domains; it truly values the skills of its citizen scientists and networks, and enables genuine Open Science. As a result, we are witnessing a rapid increase in knowledge, awareness, skills, and aspirations of our citizen scientists.
,2019 Impact Statement
EwA Biodiversity & Climate Citizen Science fills important biodiversity and phenology data gaps. EwA science projects are about co-creative conservation using open and global science protocols and tools. We support studies for which data follow protocols that lead to comparable and usable data. Data access is open and transparent to scientists and the public worldwide. Our perspective goes far beyond using the public as a resource to gather data while potentially educating the public. It is inclusive and democratic; it bridges expertizes and domains; it truly values the skills of its citizen scientists and networks, and it enables genuine Open Science.
As EwA Phenology is concerned, we use Nature’s Notebook protocol and platform that we endorse for its rigor and openness. Specifically, we approve of the standardization effort of the protocol across the U.S., therefore, leading to outcomes that we as well as anyone interested can aggregate and compare with other institutions’ output. Data rigor and openness are critical to science, and this was a definite factor for choosing to use Nature’s Notebook.
EwA’s program is young. Yet since we started we recorded about 18,000 data points, which aggregated with about 20,000 biodiversity occurrence and abundance records start to give a sense of the continuous natural history of the sites that we are studying. Our system approach is unique and an appreciated differentiator in our region. We also are witnessing first hand the increase of knowledge, awareness, skills, and aspirations (KASA) of our citizen scientists and volunteers. Our model based on science democratization and the accessibility of our program to all communities make a difference while serving science.
Check out Earthwise Aware's Biodiversity and Phenology Report, or the Report Highlights.
Educating Children Outdoors (ECO) Teen Naturalists monitor the phenology of flora and fauna species at class locations in Tucson, Casa Grande, and Phoenix. Our goal is for the teens to learn through inquiry and project based learning methods and Nature's Notebook is a great way to help us accomplish this. Our program mission is to help teens explore nature's wonders and develop a strong sense of place which will help them become stewards of the natural areas in their community. So in addition to monitoring the phenology at our class sites, we will be monitoring river flow, and conducting water quality testing, macroinvertebrate surveys, soil quality testing, bio blitzes, and more. To encourage the teens to become stewards of the sites we exolore we will be conducting trash clean ups and removing invasive species. By combining all of these community science and stewardship opportunities the teens will be able to better understand ecological connections and natural processes.
Marana
AZ
This LPP is working with students.
This LPP is working with under-served communities.
Partner Website:
First Observation:
03/2021
East Central University in Ada, OK is using Nature's Notebook to help students have a better understanding of phenological changes in plants and to participating in citizen science.
Ada
OK
This LPP is working with students.
This LPP is working with under-served communities.
First Observation:
08/2019
Finger Lakes Land Trust is using Nature's Notebook to oberve phenology as a part of New York Phenology Project.
Freeville
NY
First Observation:
07/2015
Tallahassee
FL
This LPP is working with students.
First Observation:
04/2013
Flowers for Bats is a Nature's Notebook group participating with the Tucson Phenology Trail.
AZ
Partner Website:
First Observation:
05/2018
Los Altos Hills
CA
This LPP is working with students.
First Observation:
06/2014
UMass Amherst's Foxcroft Farm is an ecology undergraduate class and is using Nature's Notebook to provide a citizen science approach to engaging in ecological research.
Amherst
MA
This LPP is working with students.
First Observation:
04/2017
Frenchman Bay Conservancy in Hancock, Maine, is using Nature's Notebook to expand the geographic range of their phenology and bird migration project, which may turn into other projects as their data and program develop further. They also seek to inform local partners about the importance of phenology data on their land and how they can help and contribute to their own conservation goals. Also they aim to engage volunteers and participants on how they can become involved and easily contribute to science by using Nature's Notebook.
Hancock, Maine
Partner Website:
First Observation:
07/2018
Greenville
SC
This LPP is working with students.
First Observation:
02/2014
Georgetown University in Washington D.C. is hosting Georgetown Phenology Project using Nature's Notebook in a college course building on a previous professor's several year phenology project, and using the old data and species, continue to monitor the same trees. This will allow the students to continue the record and use past data to make predictions during each year.
This LPP is working with students.
First Observation:
03/2018