January updates for Time to Restore

Time to Restore

Greetings!

Here is your monthly update for those participating in the Time to Restore project in New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, and Louisiana. If you know others who may be interested in this newsletter, please send it their way! If you were forwarded this message, you can sign up to get on our list here.

Upcoming virtual trainings

Join us for a virtual training Wednesday, January 7 at 5:30pm MT / 6:30pm CT. This January training will include another preview of the latest version of the Nature's Notebook app (pictured at right) that will be released next spring, so don't miss out!

We will also provide a brief overview of the project and a chance for Q&A about the project. This is a great opportunity to meet other observers collecting data on the Time to Restore project!

We've also added training dates through May. Our training calls in February and April will provide a full 1.5 hour training on how to participate in the project. The January, March, and May calls will be one hour and will include a brief overview on how to participate in Time to Restore, an update on the data collected so far, and tips on how to improve the quality of the data you collect as an observer.

Plant of the Month: Basketflower, Plectocephalus americanus

Photo: Aidan Campos via iNaturalist, CC BY NC

Each month, we feature one of the plants on the Time to Restore list. Basket-flower has the common name of American star-thistle in Nature's Notebook. The scientific name we use in Nature's Notebook is Plectocephalus americanus, though you may know it as Centaurea americana. It is one of our Texas priority species.

This species grows one and a half to 6 feet tall with large flower heads (inflorescences) that are up to 4-5 inches across (but may be smaller in some locations). The plants look similar to a thistle but are not as spiky. The photo at right shows the stiff, straw colored bracts that give this flower the name "basket-flower."

Photo: Joseph A Marcus, Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center

You may want to observe this species as a patch of plants. You can do this on your Observation Deck on the Add or Edit Plant page. If you have more than one plant or patch, consider monitoring 2-3 individuals at the same site to capture the variation between plants.

For the plant pictured below, you would report:

Flowers or flower buds - yes

Open flowers - yes

Fruits - no

Ripe fruits - no

Photo above: Carolyn Fannon, Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center

Remember that flowers for this species are not open until you can see the reproductive structures, the black and white structures visible in the graphic above.

As for the optional intensity questions, you are answering the question "How many flowers or flower buds are present?" Remember that for this species, you should count the number of inflorescences on the plant, or patch of plants.

In the patch below there are 6 inflorescences (each circled in white). We would report 3-10 flowers or flower buds. Optionally, you could put the actual number of flowers you counted in the comments for your observation.

Photo: Charmaine Richardson via Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center

Questions? Reach out to Erin@usanpn.org.

Additional Resources

Nature's Notebook Nest

Stay connected with fellow observers and Local Phenology Leaders at the Nature's Notebook Nest! These standing monthly meetings on the first Monday of the month at 12pm PT / 3pm ET are a great chance to ask your questions and get advice from fellow observers. Mark your calendars, next Nest is January 5! If you sign up for reminders we'll send you an email a few days before and then the morning of the call.

Training options in your state

Participants in all states are invited to join us for monthly training series on the first Wednesday of the month. The next training will be Wednesday, January 7, 2026 @ 6:30 p.m. CT. Register here.

Louisiana

Interested in organizing a training for your group in Louisiana? Reach out to Gina Lloyd to schedule.

New Mexico

Interested in organizing a training for your group in New Mexico? Reach out to Kim Eichhorst to schedule.

Oklahoma

Interested in organizing a training for your group in Oklahoma? Reach out to Jane Breckinridge to schedule.

Texas

Interested in organizing a training for your group in Texas? While we have scaled back on trainings at this point in the project, we are still providing virtual trainings for larger groups of 40 of more. Reach out to David Gwin to schedule.

The table below shows the Texas counties that are represented by Master Naturalist and NPSOT chapters that have already approved the project. We are now up to 74 counties! Let us know if you are already planning on participating in the project but your county is not represented below!

North Texas Counties	Dallas, Denton, Collin, Cooke, Fannin, Hunt, Kaufman, Montague, Parker, Rockwall, Tarrant, Parker, Wise
Central Texas Counties	Bell, Caldwell, Bastrop, Blanco, Burnet, Comanche, Erath, Hamilton, Hays, Lampasas, Llano, Milam, Palo Pinto, Travis
East Texas Counties	Polk, San Jacinto, Trinity, Tyler
Southeast Texas Counties	Austin, Brazoria, Brazos, Burleson, Colorado, Fayette, Fort Bend, Galveston, Grimes, Harris, Lee, Leon, Madison, Montgomery, Nueces, Robertson, Walker, Waller, Washington, Wharton
Southwest Texas Counties	Bexar, Comal, Guadalupe, Kinney, Medina, Uvalde
West Texas Counties	Bailey, Borden, Cochran, Cottle, Crosby, Dawson, Dickens, Floyd, Garza, Hale, Hockley, Kent, King, Lamb, Lubbock, Lynn, Motley, Scurry, Stonewall, Terry, Yoakum