Last year marked the sixth year of data collection on the Gulf Coast Phenology Trail. Partners including four National Wildlife Refuges, two National Estuarine Research Reserves, one National Park, and six other organizations collect data on a shared suite of focal species. The list includes both native plants that are important habitat for wildlife as well as invasive species.

Read the Gulf Coast Phenology Trail 2022 Annual Report »

When the lesser long-nosed bat was removed from the Endangered Species List in 2018, a Post-Delisting Monitoring Plan was created to ensure that the bat population remains at a healthy level. Included in the Plan is monitoring of nectar sources used by the bat via our Flowers for Bats campaign. This summer, with the help of student Emily Tran, we are taking a look at the data we have collected thus far to make sure that our protocols are capturing sufficient information to detect mismatches between the bats and their food resources.



Learn more about Flowers for Bats »

This Phenology Trail Teaching Handbook, created by Peter Swan while he was working with the Minnesota Valley NWR, describes how teachers can implement a phenology program in their classroom. Observations can be done at a school campus, a nearby location, or even by making a field trip to a location such as a National Wildlife Refuge.

View the Handbook »

If you need more help getting your Local Phenology Program up and running, look no further than our Local Phenology Leader Certification Course! The course will walk you through how to create a long-term program plan, explain how to use the Nature's Notebook LPP tools and resources, and provide tips on volunteer recruitment, annual report writing, and more! Plus you'll be in a cohort with 20 other leaders with plenty of opportunities to share ideas and resources. The 10-week course takes between 6-8 hours a week, costs $55 to cover materials costs, and start at the end of September. Sign up on the interest list and you'll be the first to hear when applications open at the end of August.

Learn more about the Course »

Sign up for the Interest List for this fall »

Spring Leaf and Bloom Index layers calculated using the Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature data product are now available 1880-2021. These layers, at 1 degree resolution, can be accessed using USA-NPN's geo web services or downloaded using the Geoserver Request Builder.

Learn more »

Do you use the Nature's Notebook mobile app to make your phenology observations? We want to hear from you! We are planning a large-scale improvement to the app, and we want to hear what you like about the current app, and more importantly, what you don't! Please fill out our short survey, it should only take about 10 minutes to complete. Your feedback will help guide the new app, so don't miss out on this chance to make your opinion heard.

Fill out the survey »

Since the USA-NPN phenology monitoring protocols were published (Denny et al. 2014), we have made refinements to reduce confusion in the phenophase definitions, added new taxonomic groups, and expanded protocols to more fully capture certain life cycle stages. In a new publication, we describe changes that have been made to the original protocols. Going forward, the current version of the protocols will be maintained in the University of Arizona Research Data Repository.

Read the updated protocols publication »

Join our Time to Restore team to collaborate with others working on pollinator restoration in the South Central region - NM, OK, TX, and LA. Our next quarterly call will be Thursday, August 31st at 9am PT / 10am MT / 11am CT / 12pm ET. Meeting link. In this call, we'll share the our results from data collection on nectar plants in the region and models that predict how flowering and seed timing will shift in the coming decades.

Learn more about Time to Restore »

Each month, Local Phenology Leaders across the country join together to share resources, ideas, and more. Volunteer Engagement Coordinator Samantha Brewer leads the calls with different topics each month. You can join our email list to be notified of monthly call topics that may be of interest.

Sign up for monthly call emails »