We are so excited to share that we received an NSF Capacity award to revamp our Nature's Notebook app and users' experience with it. Our aim is lower barriers to entry for new and continuing observers and increase engagement and connections among participants. In particular, we will develop observing challenges, in-app badges, enhanced, tailored user notifications and multilingual support for the USA-NPN mobile app. This work will also support science and management use by ensuring data quality through the addition of photo storage, computer-aided identifications, and enhanced discoverability. Stay tuned, we'll share updates on this exciting project as it unfolds!

Read the award summary »

Our 2023 Annual Report is here! See what we accomplished together last year thanks to the work of our Nature's Notebook observers and many partners.

Read the USA-NPN's 2023 Annual Report »

iNaturalist recently updated their plant phenology annotation feature to include leaf phenophases in addition to flowers and fruits. The updates are a step along the way to bringing the phenology information from iNaturalist images into Phenobase, where it can be harmonized with data from the USA-NPN and many other sources. In the short term, since the definitions are very similar to those of the USA-NPN, it will be that much easier to use the millions of iNaturalist observations to supplement more intensive Nature’s Notebook data.

Read more on the iNaturalist blog »

We updated our backend services several months ago. If you are having trouble with the rpnpn package not working properly, please try reinstalling from CRAN.

rnpn documentation in CRAN »

Looking for a basic primer on the topic of phenology, for use in your classes, or even to simply better explain to your friends and loved ones what the term means? We've got you covered! Phenology, a part of the MIT Press's Essential Knowledge book series, provides a simple and comprehensive overview of the topic. Scheduled to go live in March, 2025, pre-orders will open in the coming months.

Learn more »

This spring we launched new Pheno Forecasts to aid in management of two invasive insects - spotted lanternfly and Asian longhorned beetle. The new spotted lanternfly forecasts predicts the timing of egg hatch and adult lanternflies, and the updated Asian longhorned beetle forecast now includes South Carolina and predicts the percentage of adult beetles that have emerged.

You can sign up to receive notifications by email for these and other insects two weeks and six days before activity starts in your area.

See the spotted lanternfly Pheno Forecast »

See the Asian longhorned beetle Pheno Forecast »

A 1km resolution set of raster layers indicating the start of spring, calculated using the Spring Index (SI-x) models and encompassing both North America (1980-2022) and Europe (1950-2020) were recently published in Scientific Data. Data layers and underlying code are freely available for use.

Access the datasets »

The State of the Climate is a special supplement produced by the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society each year. This year, both data collected through Nature's Notebook and USA-NPN map layers are included in the section summarizing the start and end of seasonal activity of plants.

Read the report »

We will begin another cohort of the Local Phenology Leader Certification Course this fall. This is an online, interactive, 10-week course that will walk you through how to implement a long-term phenology program for your organization or group. The course provides an in-depth look at all of the USA-NPN resources available to you.



Sign up to take the course »

Applications are now open for the 3rd annual Environmental Data Science Summit hosted by the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS). The goals of the Summit are to build community and foster collaboration within the Environmental Data Science community.

This year’s theme is The Future of AI in Conservation & Management. Attendees and speakers will consider the opportunities and risks of using AI to inform (or transform) their approach to conservation and management, including new and different tools, the ethics connected with using AI, and future applications and innovations. Application deadline is October 4, 2024

Learn more and apply for travel support »