In honor of the Autumn Equinox as a pillar of seasonal change, join us for bioblitz event at Tryon Creek State Natural Area looking at plant phenology: the seasonal change in plants. We will specifically look at Salmonberry, Stinging nettle, Fringecup, Pacific waterleaf, Red alder, and Skunk cabbage, searching for if they have new growth, are flowering, fruiting/seeding, leafing out, losing leaves, etc. By looking for plant phenotypes all together over the weekend, we'll get a great glimpse into how the changing climate is affecting the culturally and ecologically important plants in the park, and if there's a pattern to when these changes are happening.

How to get started:

• If you are new to iNaturalist, it’s simple to create an account, download the app on your phone, and practice taking and uploading a few photo observations www.inaturalist.org/login

• If you already have an iNaturalist account, join the Tryon Autumn Equinox Bioblitz and participate by uploading your photos during the bioblitz.

Walk the trails, find these plants, and take some photos! We recommend taking at least two photos per plant, one from up close, and one that encompasses the larger plant body to make sure we can observe all the changes!