Work is going full steam ahead on developing the new and improved Nature's Notebook app! We are working hard to ensure that the new app is inviting, engaging, and accessible to everyone who wants to connect with nature's rhythms and document phenological changes. We invite you to join our Participant Pool, where we will send progress notes and ask for your feedback to ensure that we are creating the best user experience to suit your needs. All members of the participant pool will even earn an exclusive badge when the new app releases!

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This month we welcomed a new member to the USA-NPN team! Erin Zylstra is a quantitative ecologist who specializes in the development and application of analytical tools to better understand ecological processes and inform conservation efforts. She has developed hierarchical modeling frameworks to characterize demography and population dynamics of wildlife species and helped to design and evaluate monitoring programs for species of conservation concern. Erin has worked with a wide variety of species, including desert tortoises, amphibians, and monarch butterflies, but has a particular fondness for plants and animals in the Sonoran Desert of southern Arizona.

Erin joins USA-NPN as a Research Scientist and is interested in assessing the effects of climate and land use change on plant and wildlife populations and optimizing sampling methods to obtain high-quality data to inform these assessments. Welcome, Erin!

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This past year, the USA-NPN and researchers with the US Geological Survey created a Pheno Forecast that predicts the seasonal activity of red brome, Bromus rubens. We would like your input on how the forecast performed this year. We also would like to learn about your preferences for the timing of notifications for this forecast. Thank you for providing your input!

Complete the survey »

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Our annual Redbud Phenology Project Training is scheduled for Thursday, January 9, 2025 on Zoom. This is a great opportunity to meet researcher Dr. Jorge Santiago-Blay and learn how you can help us better understand the phenology of this beautiful and iconic tree.



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Plants growing in the forest understory, including spring ephemerals (short-lived herbaceous plants), are important members of the forest plant community. A team of Appalachian Mountain Club scientists evaluated observations of leaf out and flowering in 11 understory plant and 14 tree species to help address the outstanding question of which plant group is shifting their springtime activity more. Overall, understory plants are advancing the timing of their activity twice as much as trees under warmer conditions. Interestingly, plants of the mid-Atlantic region – comprising the “middle” section of the Appalachian Trail – showed substantially more advancement than plants to the north or the south. And finally: when they looked at differences among the plant groups by region, they only saw evidence of greater advancement among understory plants in the north. The findings of this analysis are good news for the understory plants. Greater advancement in the springtime activity of these plants compared to leaf-out in the overstory canopy means more time for them to grow prior to being shaded out by the larger trees. 

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Researchers examined data collected by multiple phenology networks across the Northern Hemisphere, including Nature's Notebook data, to examine how late spring frosts (frosts that occur after plants leaf out) affect the subsequent timing of flowering. They found that these late frosts do delay the timing of flowering by about 6 days, and that late-leafing species are more sensitive than early-leafing species.

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We are giving our LPL Monthly Calls a refresh for the new year! Major changes include new call times to offer more opportunities to connect with your fellow Leaders and focused topics of interest. We are also opening up our calls to all Nature's Notebook observers! Our new Community will involve two different types of calls:

Nature's Notebook Nest - Bring your questions and observations and chat with USA-NPN staff and fellow observers and Local Phenology Leaders! These will be standing monthly meetings, date and time TBD.

Monthly Murmuration - Flock together with us in focused discussions including Q & As with experienced Leaders, instructional webinars, and focus groups to give your input on key features in the new mobile app. These will be scheduled several weeks in advance and you can select which calls to attend based on topics of interest to you. Make sure you sign up so you don't miss out!

Sign up for the Community »

Right on time for monarch migration, we have two new educational activities designed to help volunteers and students engage in our Desert Refuge campaign! Even if you don't live in Arizona, these activities will help you and your students learn more about monarch and milkweed phenology, and how to collect and interpret data collected through Nature's Notebook. We want to extend a special thank you to Viviana Beltran for helping us develop these activities and translate them into Spanish!

Explore our education resources »

Actividades in Español »

Each year, Walmart U.S. stores, Sam’s Clubs, and Distribution Centers award local cash grants ranging from $250 to $5000. These local grants are designed to address the unique needs of the communities where they operate. There are three submission periods each year, including the current one which closes December 31st.  

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The journal Discover Ecology is inviting submissions for a special issue focused on phenology. The papers in this topical collection will feature novel research representing new perspectives and frontiers in plant phenology, sparking discussions on how to advance the field. Submissions open December 1st, 2024 and close December 1st, 2025.



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What factors make for a good, or off-par, fall foliage year? A recent article from the National Park Service's Field Notes explains which factors determine a good or bad year, and how climate change will, and already is, impacting leaf peeper season.



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Bee Friendly Gardening (BFG), a program of Pollinator Partnership, helps people play a bigger role in the health of pollinators and the planet. You can register your personal garden or a public space that you help manage. They also provide resources on what to plant to support bees and other pollinators and where to buy seeds. Then don't forget to track the phenology of your plants and pollinators with Nature's Notebook!

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The Climate Literary and Energy Awareness (CLEAN) Webinar Series offers resources, teaching guidance, and a network of support around climate change topics. A recent webinar focused on effective climate change education resources, materials, and strategies to promote youth and educator agency and how to process climate emotions in classrooms.

Learn more »