KNPS Wildflower Week 2023 Botany Blitz's Journal

31 March, 2023

Come join KNPS's 2023 Wildflower Week Botany Blitz and Botanists Big Year projects!

Happy spring, y'all!

Just wanted to reach out to invite everyone to join the Kentucky Native Plant Society's two annual iNat projects:

  • KNPS Wildflower Week 2023 Botany Blitz - Just one week away!! This is runs from April 8-15 and leads up to KNPS's annual Wildflower Weekend. Observations are generally wildflower-focused because it's that time of year and it's hard not to focus on them, but observations of all plants are welcome, including bryophytes (mosses and liverworts), woody plants, graminoids (sedges, rushes, and grasses), or even weeds you think look kinda neat. On April 8, KNPS is hosting a number of guided hikes lead by experienced naturalist across the state. If you're interested in joining one of these hikes, check out KNPS's First Day Hike registration page to find a hike near you! And finally, on the 14th and 15th we hope to see you at the Wildflower Weekend festivities at Cumberland Falls State Resort Park! To view the full schedule and register for that event, head over to the Wildflower Weekend registration page.
  • Kentucky Botanists 2023 Big Year - This is currently in progress, and is a year long friendly competition for the most plant species observed and most plant observations in total. This is Kentucky's 5th annual Botanists Big Year, you can check out the results of 2022, 2021, 2020, and 2019, and scroll through some of the ID tips posted in 2022's project journal.

I'd also like to encourage everyone to join the Kentucky Plants of Conservation Concern project! This is a project run by botanists (including yours truly) from the Office of Kentucky Nature Preserves and is designed to help us connect with iNaturalist users who are observing rare plant species in Kentucky. One of OKNP's statutory duties is to collect and maintain data on all rare species in the state, and observations from iNat community scientists are a valuable source of data for documenting Kentucky's natural heritage. If you'd like to learn more about OKNP and the important work it does in Kentucky, check out the 2022 Annual Report, which includes a section on iNaturalist on p. 64-65.

Important note: If you don't want to miss any journal entries on these projects, which includes helpful plant ID tips as well as periodic project updates and highlights, make sure you've opted in to project journal notifications -- to go to each project's main page (see links above), click "Your Membership," and select "yes" when it asks if you would like to receive notifications.

See y'all on the trails!
-Vanessa

Posted on 31 March, 2023 14:30 by vvoelker vvoelker | 2 comments | Leave a comment

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