Caretakers of the Plants

Community science volunteers help HF&G researchers explore the impacts of warming on spring phenology in our forests.

By Emma Dawson-Glass and Katie Stuble

On a cool March day, I find myself standing in Bole Woods at the Holden Arboretum. Above me tower 100-year-old beech and maple trees, their branches still bare from the winter chill. Below me, tiny shoots of green poke through the damp brown ground. This is what I’m here for — I am on the hunt for the first signs of spring. I crouch and gently rifle through the frosty leaf litter, spying my target — the curly, mottled leaf of a young trout lily. Delighted, I use a numbered metal stake to mark my quarry and call to my