When: August 22, 2025 @ 9:30 am
Join this tri-state community effort to help scientists understand pollinators!
The Great Southeast Pollinator Census is an easy community science initiative that collects data on pollinator populations. This project helps researchers track trends like how pollinators respond to weather patterns and how honeybees interact with native bees. All you need to help is 2 eyes, 1 flower, and 15 minutes!
Join us in the at the base of the Snowbird Mountains at the old Hanging Dog Valley Nursery (2600 Boiling Springs Rd, Murphy, NC 28906) at 9:30am on Friday, August 22nd to participate in this simple and fun research project. We’ll start with a brief crash course on local pollinators, with an emphasis on native pollinators; what even is a pollinator, how can you identify them, and how can we support them? Next, we’ll learn how to sort pollinating insects into broad categories, then disperse throughout the nursery to get to counting! Each participant will choose one flowering plant to count on, and after 15 minutes we’ll compare notes and see which plants were visited by which pollinators. Expect to be out for about 1.5-2 hours. Very little walking is required at this event; there are no steps to enter the nursery, and the paths within it are flat, wide, and grassy.
Participants are encouraged to bring a folding chair or stool to sit on while collecting data. Participants will also receive a counting sheet to take home with them so they can count on a plant in their backyard, along their favorite trail, or growing up out of the sidewalk in front of their house! Please bring water, sun protection, something to keep time with (like a watch or phone), and anything else you may need to be comfortable outside for this event.
Anyone in North Carolina, South Carolina, or Georgia can count pollinators for the Great Southeast Pollinator Census on Friday, August 22nd or Saturday, August 23rd. If you can’t make this event, email Skye to ask how you can participate on your own time!
This event is free and open to the public, but registration is required. Please fill out the form below to register.
This event is weather dependent. Email Alina at [email protected] with any questions. Please leave pets at home.
Meet your teacher
As Mainspring’s Conservation Outreach Associate, Alina Martin aims to encourage the protection and appreciation of land by connecting communities to the birds, plants, mammals, amphibians, and reptiles that share our home here in the Southern Blue Ridge. Her adventures up and down the east coast have introduced her to a wide variety of habitats, and those experiences inspire her to continue nurturing her understanding of wildlife and plant ecology. Armed with her identification knowledge and ever-increasing wonder, Alina leads a variety of educational programs here at Mainspring, and finds something curious and new each time. She is a life-long birder, all-around naturalist, and avid user of eBird and iNaturalist
