Dave Field of the Maine Appalachian Trail Conference is looking for volunteers to help with monitoring rare plant sites along the AT. I will paste in an email below that he sent recently to those who had expressed an interest in helping. He is looking for additional volunteers, especially individuals with botanical knowledge or background. If you are interested in learning more or helping out, please contact him directly at: [log in to unmask] Rick Speer From Dave Field: Please mark 10 July on your calendars. That is the date of the Natural Heritage Monitoring Training Session, probably on Saddleback or Bigelow. We have some 41 "natural diversity" sites along the A.T. corridor in Maine, but only 14 or so are "rare, threatened, and endangered plant monitoring sites". A very brief overview of the protocol is: 1. Preparation and training (the 10 July session). Each monitor will receive a site-specific "natural heritage site monitoring kit" that includes a description of the site, how to get there, and a botanical description of the species (drawing and/or photo) present at the site. Some species can best be identified during its flowering or fruiting phase. For some alpine flora, that can be a rather small time window. 2. Locating the rare species population. 3. Evaluating the health of the population (this requires training) 4. Identifying threats to the site (especially threats related to A.T. use) 5. Recording and reporting findings (using approved forms, of course!) Photographic evidence is some of the best for identifying problems and monitoring changes. The rapidly increasing availability of inexpensive digital cameras should help with this. This is a sensitive responsibility. We really do not want the general population and the hiking community to know the location of threatened and endangered species, for fear of attracting collectors. Not every site will need to be visited every year, but most will require at least annual visits. Anyway, thanks again for your interest and I'll be in touch. David B. Field E. L. Giddings Professor of Forest Policy and Chair, Department of Forest Management