Greetings!

We are excited to announce our first ever Local Phenology Leader Clinic and Rally this October ! This event will bring together up to 40 Leaders from across the country who are engaging groups in monitoring phenology. If you are a seasoned Local Phenology Leader with experience to share or just getting started with your program, there is a lot you can learn from your fellow LPLs! Get more details about the Clinic below.

We are also weeks away from launching a new Nature's Notebook app! This app will provide an improved interface to allow you to set up sites, add plants and animals, and review your past observations. Stay tuned for more next month!
Sincerely,
What's new at Nature's Notebook and USA-NPN
1st Local Phenology Leader Clinic & Rally
Do you want to connect with other Local Phenology Leaders to share ideas and gain skills you can bring to your program? Join us for the first biennial Local Phenology Leader Clinic this October 4-5, 2019 located at, and co-hosted by, the Grand Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve and National Wildlife Refuge in Moss Point, Mississippi. The Grand Bay NERR/NWR spearheaded the Gulf Coast Phenology Trail , and has many great lessons to share.

We are also seeking six Local Phenology Leaders to share their work and ideas in 30-min oral presentations! The deadline for proposals is June 9th . Registration will open on June 24th.

The LPL Clinic will be held at Grand Bay NERR/NWR in Mississippi

Observer Certification Course
Our new Observer Certification Course helps you test and certify your skills as a Nature's Notebook observer. The Certification Course consists of several modules that will teach you how to observe with Nature's Notebook , basic botany, tips for estimating intensity, and more. The first module, How to Observe, is now available on your Observation Deck! Test your skills or share it with your participants.

Track insect pests with Pest Patrol
We are seeking observers to report their sightings of insect pest species that cause harm to forest and agricultural trees. Your observations as part of this campaign will help validate and improve the USA-NPN's Pheno Forecasts , which help managers know when these species are active and susceptible to treatment.

American Spring Live
Did you catch all the great phenology on American Spring LIVE a few weeks ago ? If not, you can watch the recording of this great series from PBS Nature. The third and final episode, Connections, highlights the USA-NPN's Track a Lilac project , which invites the public to submit one-time observations of leafing and flowering in lilacs.

Walking with Wildflowers
Walking with Wildflowers invites hikers along the Pacific Crest Trail to record information about the wildflowers they see. The project was started by researchers Benjamin Blackman and Nicholas Kooyers to better understand how climate change is altering plants flowering and seed-making behavior. You don't have to be a through-hiker to participate - anyone who visits Inyo National Forest, Yosemite National Park, or North Cascades National Park is invited to join!

Recent happenings in the field of phenology
Rethinking false spring risk
The number of early springs followed by late freeze events, called false springs, is predicted to increase due to climate change. To determine the likelihood of damage from a late spring freeze in temperate forests, the authors of a new study in Global Change Biology evaluated several datasets that reflect the start of spring including the USA-NPN’s spring leaf index. Many factors play a role in the susceptibility of plants to damage from false springs, including the plant’s life stage, functional group, morphology, and phenological traits such as whether the plant puts on buds early.

A clearer understanding of how to estimate the risk of false springs for various species/functional types improves estimates of the future frequency of false springs under different climate change scenarios and can help improve models of species range shifts, carbon budgets and even feedback loops between climate shifts and forest composition.


Photo: Alyssa Rosemartin
The impact of climate change on grizzlies
Grizzly bears in Alberta depend on buffaloberry to fatten up before hibernation. A shift to earlier fruiting means a gap between prime feeding season and hibernation. Authors of a new study in Nature Climate Change worry that this could alter reproductive rates of Alberta's grizzlies.

Graphic by Fuse Consulting Ltd
More ways to get involved
Welcoming spring on Maine Calling
A recent episode of Maine Calling highlights nature appreciation, phenology, and science education. Guests include Beth Bisson, Certified Local Phenology Leader and program coordinator for Signs of the Seasons , a New England phenology program.


Nature of Phenology podcast series
There is a lot of great phenology on the radio in Maine these days! Check out The Nature of Phenology , a great podcast series from WERU Community Radio. Each week, Hazel Stark hosts a podcast that discusses what is happening in Maine, phenology-wise.


Need help with bee ID? There's an app for that
A new app helps you identify the bees you see in your backyard! It also has tips for bee-friendly plants and how to create pollinator gardens. Don't forget to log your observations of bees and nectar plants in Nature's Notebook !

Especially for Local Phenology Leaders
Congrats to our newly Certified LPLs!
Congratulations to another round of Certified Local Phenology Leaders who completed our online course this spring (cohort 6): Teresa Caldwell, Leah Dudley, Jerry Holden, Joe Kreider, Denise Lello, Carol Margolis, Debbie Pike, Mac Post, Lynette Reiner, Amy Kletzien Riker, Lindsay Rist, Georgia Silvera Seamans, and Allyson Whalley.

We will offer another Certification Course this fall. Add your name to the interest list if you'd like to join us.

Summer Short Course for Leaders
Don't have time for the full LPL Certification Course? The Nature's Notebook Summer Short-course is a 4-week long, 8-10 hour online course that guides you through how to establish a sustainable phenology monitoring program. The course runs July 8th-26th and costs $25.

Local Phenology Program Highlight
We want to highlight your Local Phenology Program! If you'd like to be featured in our next newsletter, send us a few sentences about your group - what are your goals for monitoring, what species are you tracking, and what do your volunteers enjoy most about your program? Don't forget to also send a photo if you have one!

Email erin@usanpn.org
Local Phenology Leaders at the USA-NPN's 10 year anniversary gathering
Tree Spotting at the Arnold Arboretum
We were happy to see so many of our phenology friends at the Citizen Science Association conference in Raleigh, NC last March. We were very impressed by this poster by the Arnold Arboretum Tree Spotters which describes how the program has trained hundreds of citizen scientists to collect observations on plants to support research of graduate students and Arboretum affiliates.

Contact
Erin Posthumus
Outreach Coordinator
erin@usanpn.org
520-621-1670
bio


LoriAnne Barnett
Education Coordinator
lorianne@usanpn.org
520-621-1803
bio