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In response to the Strategic Plan for Climate Change, the USFWS National Wildlife Refuge System is collaborating with the USA National Phenology Network (USA-NPN) and our online phenology monitoring program, Nature's Notebook, to monitor phenology throughout the Refuge System.
These quarterly newsletters will keep you up to date on our Partnership, and share with you the resources that we develop to allow you to more easily implement phenology monitoring on your Refuge. In this issue, you will see recommendations and preliminary results from our Pilot Refuge Valle de Oro, a highlight of our new Summarized Dataset, and upcoming webinars and trainings for our partners at FWS.
We look forward to working together in 2015!
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| USA-NPN
USFWS Liaison | USA-NPN
Education Coordinator |
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Valle de Oro NWR Pilot Highlighted in Bulletin
The USA-NPN's pilot project at Valle de Oro NWR was recently highlighted in the Refuge Bulletin. The article describes how citizen scientists are assisting Refuge Manger Jennifer Owen-White to collect phenology information on birds, native trees and invasive species that will assist in management decisions.
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Phenology Calendar from Valle de Oro NWR
In December 2013, phenology monitoring began at our pilot Refuge, Valle de Oro. After over a year of data collection, we have a preliminary phenology calendar for birds at the Refuge.
Subsequent years of data collection will refine this calendar, and serve as a guide for management decisions as well as information for visitors to the Refuge.
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New Resources for our Refuge Partners
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New Recommendations for Phenology Monitoring
We have just released a summary of recommendations from our pilot Refuge, Valle de Oro. The document contains a timeline for project implementation, and recommendations for monitoring design, volunteer training, support, and management, and more.
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Download our Data in Summarized Form
Have you ever tried to download phenology data in spreadsheet form, and then been at a loss as to what to do next? For the most part, what is of interest is when flowering, leafing, migrating, and so on started and ended, and how long it lasted.
Now available: summarized Nature's Notebook data, which provides this information! Using the Data Download Tool, you can now obtain the first and last dates that phenophases were recorded on individual organisms in each year, plus lots more. Instructional videos available.
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NCTC Webinar on February 4th, 2015
Want to learn more about how other Refuges are conducting phenology monitoring with Nature's Notebook, and how you and your Refuge can become involved?
In this Webinar, part of NCTC's NWR System Webinar Series, USA-NPN liaison to the FWS Erin Posthumus will present 'The USFWS Phenology Network - a collaboration between the USFWS and the USA National Phenology Network.'
February 4, 2015, 2-4:30 pm EST
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Region 3 Nature's Notebook Training on March 6th, 2015
The Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge is hosting a Nature's Notebook training for Region 3 Refuges on March 6th at the Visitor Center in Bloomington, MN.
Learn how phenology is being monitored across the Refuge System, see a demonstration of the USA-NPN's protocols and tools for data entry and download, and learn how to develop a phenology implementation plan for your Refuge.
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