Appalachian Trail Flower Watch

The Appalachian Trail Flower Watch (officially “Flowers and Fauna along the Appalachian Trail Corridor”) is an ongoing iNaturalist project where volunteers hiking along and near the A.T. use the iNaturalist app to take plant photos. Staying on the trail, we ask that you take photos using iNaturalist that can help you identify plants and add them to our project, where you will be asked questions about plant phases such as flowering and fruiting.

AMC is a partner with the USA National Phenology Network, the National Park Service, and the Appalachian Trail Conservancy in looking at plant phenology on this National Scenic Trail and the corridor around it that supports biodiversity and a greenway for species migration. Capturing plant presence and phenological status will provide much needed information on hard to monitor mountain trails but lower elevations as well.

Community science programs are a significant components of the Appalachian Mountain Club mountain ecology and climate science research being conducted in the Appalachian mountain region.

General background and teaching material on phenology can be found here: https://www.usanpn.org/education