Colorado National Monument is using Nature's Notebook for our Cottonwood Observation Project to establish a site where students, volunteers, employees and community members can contribute to creating a baseline of phenological observations of a cottonwood species and for this site to be an experiential education resource and a springboard for climate change dialogue. We will work with community members including scientists, teachers, and CMU professors to establish a monitoring program that emphasizes citizen science and climate change communication. New recruitment of pioneer cottonwood in riparian areas in the arid southwest is threatened by climate change impacts and phenologlical observations of the species could inform research if hotter/earlier spring temperatures are quickening historic seed dispersal trends.