Perennial Atlas Civic Science First Year Dataset

These datasets feature scientific data and physical samples collected by civic scientists in a perennial agriculture participatory research project. Civic science is a method that empowers volunteer researchers (civic scientists) to collect and share data. The Perennial Atlas project started with 176 civic science plots spread throughout the contiguous United States. For more detail, see the Perennial Atlas Plot Locations Year One map (attached). For this project, civic scientists were asked to plant, maintain, and observe garden-scale research plots in their places with future perennial grain crops and their annual counterparts. Civic scientists were invited to place these plots in a convenient location (e.g. their backyards, community gardens, school campus) according to the Plot Set Up and Planting protocol (attached). The perennial plants involved are: silphium (Silphium integrifolium), sainfoin (Onobrychis viciifolia), and Lewis flax (Linum lewisii). Their annual counterparts are sunflower (three varieties), lentil, and common flax. More information about the project can be found in the Perennial Atlas Field Guide (attached). These datasets are from the initial year of data collection in a three-year study. There will be subsequent postings of datasets for the next two years of the project. There will be inconsistencies across these datasets due to civic scientists not completing every datasheet or submitting every sample.