Local Ecologist

Image: Boulders, Hudson River Park, NYC

Have you ever walked through Washington Square Park and wondered just how old the historic English elm is? Have you noticed the boxes in the ginkgo trees and wondered who nests in them? The Washington Square Park Ecology project will answer your questions! The project is a web-based map of the natural resources of the park, from historic elms to squirrel nests. We hope you we can count on your support. Who are we? Local Ecology (founded by me) and the Washington Square Park Blog (written by Cathryn Swan). We are fundraising via ioby . Our dollar goal is $3,000. What does $3,000 get us? A dedicated domain name and hosting services for a year, a coded and designed web-based map, and miscellaneous tools. (Also, it will pay our fees to ioby.) Please help us meet our $3000 goal by June 21, 2014, the first day of summer. Any amount is greatly appreciated – $10, $20, $40…. If you can make a larger gift, go for it. Your gift is tax-deductible. You can donate here . Thank y

It is Wildflower Week in New York City . I toured the Liz Christy Bowery-Houston Garden on Monday and here is some of what I saw. Image: Native honeysuckle Image: Solomon's seal Image: Wild geranium Image: Crested iris Image: Lily of the valley Image: Mayapple Image: Shepherd's purse. Do you have a positive id? It's Aristolochia clematitis , according to one of our readers. Image: Sleeping Spring beauty Image: Carolina allspice