Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Recruiting for MeadoWatch

Love hiking and viewing Washington's alpine wildflowers? Interested in gaining an understanding of how scientists study the potential impacts of climate change on native plants? If so, MeadoWatch would love your help this summer!

The University of Washington Biology Department is currently recruiting approximately 50 volunteers to join MeadoWatch, a citizen science program which will monitor the phenology of wildflowers this upcoming summer. Your participation will help researchers understand how climate influences the flowers in mountain meadows at Mt. Rainier National Park.

As a volunteer, you will be asked to attend one orientation session and conduct at least one wildflower survey in Mt. Rainier National Park this summer. Wildflower surveys will occur between late June and late September (depending on the snow season), and will start and end at Reflection Lakes. Volunteers will stop at nine pre-determined stations along the trail to record the phenophases (e.g. budding, flowering, etc.) for ten different wildflower species. In return, you will get free entrance to Mt. Rainier National Park, and if you so desire, you may camp for 1-2 nights without charge at the Volunteer Campground at Longmire.

For more information, please visit the MeadoWatch website at
https://sites.google.com/a/uw.edu/meadowatch/

or contact Anna Wilson, MeadoWatch Coordinator at mwatch@uw.edu.

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