Have you ever had the plants in the plot not agree with some of the species listed on your data sheet? Us too! The data sheets reflect what we expect you to find in the plots based on the previous years, but sometimes seeds get spread around. Throughout the flowering season, in addition to collecting data, we need you to identify any of the focal species that are present in the plots but not listed for that plot on the data sheet. If you recognize the flower and know its name, then please write it in the notes section of your data sheet. If you are not sure of the name, the flowers are listed in the back of your hiking booklet. In addition, you can use the Washington Wildflower Search app or website to identify it after your hike!
As you hike on Mt. Rainier, we hope you take pictures of the landscape and the different flowers. When you get home and are going through your pictures, we would love to see the individual flowers! You can add them to our iNaturalist MeadoWatch project. For directions on how to do this, please look at our website, here. With all these photos, we can get an idea of the phenological patterns on the mountain in addition to our more intensive data-collection from our three designated hikes.
Thank you for all you do!
Jordana
MeadoWatch 