Members of the public who visit the Smokies often are encouraged to sign up to adopt a plot of trees near the roadside at Kanati Fork, Newfound Gap, Kuwohi (Dome Rd.), and other locations in the park.  

Interested volunteers can attend a virtual orientation session from 10 a.m. to noon on March 11, and later field site orientations will follow. Volunteers can sign up to visit their “adopted” study plot weekly, and less during summer months, to monitor trees from the first bud in spring to the last leaf drop in fall. Volunteers will monitor when trees develop buds, leaf out, produce flowers and fruit, and when leaves change color.  

Data collected by volunteers will be used in collective park-wide research to interpret how changing climate and length of day affect when seasonal changes occur. Researchers are noticing seasonal and annual shifts of the timing of phenophases, the stages of the life cycles of trees in the park. Early or late phenophases can affect entire forest ecosystems because all organisms are interconnected in the food web and depend on trees to survive.  

Anyone interested in this volunteer opportunity can email Angel Chaffin at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to register for the virtual phenology orientation.  

For more information about phenology research efforts across the country, visit the National Phenology Network at usanpn.org.