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Wolftrap National Park for the Performing Arts Digital Earth Watch (DEW) Picture Post Phenology Wayside #2

The result of a National Park Service-George Mason University Climate Change Communication Internship, the two wayside exhibits in the Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts link native plants and pollinators with climate. The Wolf Trap wayside project sought to draw connections between the importance of preserving natural landscapes and how the park is being impacted by climate change. The aim was to develop a wayside that supported the park’s broader goals to develop an outdoor classroom by highlighting the native plant garden and meadow. In working with the park staff, the interns developed a narrative that used pollinators as the main character. The narrative calls attention to the importance of native plants and pollinators in creating healthy ecosystems and how citizen science at the park was creating habitat. A key component of this story was communicating how climate change is currently impacting the plant-pollinator relationship through shifting bloom times. ...This wayside explains how climate is impacting pollination and the relationship between plants, pollinators, and people. This narrative encourages volunteerism and citizen science at Wolf Trap through phenological monitoring programs ranging from species counts and a picture post. In addition to the wayside content, the interactive material includes a citizen scientist video, native bee facts, and a family activity encouraging the exploration of the garden through a plant identification game. http://esp.gmu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/ESP_Newsletter_Fall_2013.pdf

Project URL: https://picturepost.unh.edu/post.jsp?postId=1190#picset=17044&orientation

Geographic Scope: Park-based

Project Status: Active - not recruiting volunteers

Participation Tasks: Photography,

Start Date: 2016-02-25

Project Contact: ann_gallagher@nps.gov

Federal Government Sponsor:

NPS logo

Other Federal Government Sponsor:

Fields of Science: Animals, Biology, Climate and weather, Ecology and environment, Nature and outdoors, Pollinators/insects

Intended Outcomes: Research development, Individual learning, Conservation,