JACKSON, Wyo. — This summer, the public can support local wildflower and plant populations by participating in native plant restoration, free community seed collections and citizen science.
A new study looking at bloom times of the valley’s flora has found that early and mid summer bloom times in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE) are nearly three weeks earlier than four decades ago, a shift that’s disrupting the relationship between plants and the animal species who depend on them.
“What I’ve found over time with research and observations is that wildlife is often pretty specific with what they’re choosing [to eat] specific parts of the year,” Kevin Taylor, a botanist and faculty with Wildlife Expeditions, says about how species depend on plant bloom times for their survival.
But according to Trevor Bloom, community ecologist with The Nature Conservancy in Wyoming, there are effective tools that can help support the GYE flora’s resilience against climate change.
“Besides maintaining as much open space as we can, we also are looking into concepts of native plant restoration…and seed collection efforts in the park,” Bloom says.
Community opportunities to get involved in these projects this summer are listed below:
Volunteer native plant restoration and film premier
The Nature Conservancy will be hosting a volunteer native plant restoration day at the National Museum of Wildlife Art (NMWA) on June 20 from 1 to 3 p.m. with a happy hour following from 3:30 to 4 p.m.
Then, from 4 to 5 p.m. there will be a film premier and Q&A with film makers Bloom, Noah Waldron and Charlie Craighead for the film “For Everything There Was a Season,” which highlights shifts in climate change in each of the individual seasons.
Wildflower Wednesdays
These citizen science wildflower walks are free and open to the public, hosted by Teton Botanical Garden and The Nature Conservancy. Participants will meet at Blacktail Butte parking lot off HWY 89/191 just north of Moose Junction in GTNP at 2 p.m. on Wednesdays.
A full list of dates and what to expect is available here, or email Trevor.bloom@tnc.org.
On May 31, The Nature Conservancy put up a WildWalls mural around the wildflower watch project in the area between King Sushi and High Country Outfitters.
Seed collections
For a select number of Wednesdays, wildflower walks will be replaced with seed collections. Those interested can meet at Moose Post Office, across from the Craig Thomas Visitor Center at 9 a.m. on July 26, Aug. 5, 9 and 23, Sept. 6 and 20 and Oct. 4.
Participants will then caravan to field sites, which will vary across the park. Seed collections are expected to end around 12:30 p.m. but anyone who has time to stay until 1 p.m. is welcome to eat lunch/snacks in the field.
RSVPs are appreciated; email Jasmine_Cutter@partner.nps.gov for more information.
Botanical tour at NMWA
The Nature Conservancy has created a botanical audio tour at the NMWA with over 30 stops demonstrating planting native plants for landscaping.
The tour is available in English and Spanish and talks about native plant restoration, fire ecology, indigenous and human use of plants and the connection between plants and art.
GTNP ranger program
Starting this year, GTNP will also be taking the wildflower watch on. It will be a daily led ranger program starting June 14 starting at 2 p.m. from the Craig Thomas Visitor Center, and is expected to last approximately an hour and a half. The hike will be easy and a little over a mile roundtrip.
