The USA National Phenology Network (NPN) is an emerging and exciting partnership between federal agencies, the academic community, and the general public to monitor and understand the influence of seasonal cycles on the Nation’s resources. The goal of the NPN (www.usanpn.org) is to establish a continental science and monitoring program focused on phenology, which is the study of the timing of recurring biological phases, the causes of their timing with regard to biotic and abiotic forces, and the interrelation among phases of same or different species. The NPN has a number of programs through which learners of all ages can observe and to interpret their environment using phenology as platform for education and understanding through active learning, engagement and inquiry-based approaches. For example, since February 2008, the NPN-affiliated network Project BudBurst (www.budburst.org) has registered almost 3000 people who are observing nearly 4000 plants across the continental US and are reporting their observations on-line.
Results/Conclusions The NPN is also developing a number of programs and products that will capitalize on myriad educational opportunities and a new readiness of the public to participate in investigations of nature on a national scale. In this talk, I will describe how phenology can be considered an integrative science for local assessment of global change, and how citizen scientists can help meet science objectives while increasing their awareness of environmental impacts of human activities.