The Flora of the Library Field is an ongoing project to document the species of native and introduced plants that make up the living environment at METRO’s Library Field. Beginning in March 2026, Mark Sacha and Devon Cummings will conduct a comprehensive survey to identify and catalog the naturally occurring plants in the upland forest and wetland communities of the site, based on a combination of physical specimen collection and photography. For each species record, the project team will collect information on their GPS coordinates, population sizes, and associated communities.
Any physical specimens will be permanently vouchered (housed) in the New York State Museum Herbarium in Albany, which will contribute to public scientific knowledge of regional biodiversity. Westchester County is underrepresented in our state herbarium, and our project will help to correct that. In addition to the survey and data collection performed by the team, the flora inventory will foster public engagement in the form of educational citizen science events and programs. Staff from member libraries in METRO’s network will have opportunities to learn from professionals how they can identify and catalog plants and join citizen science communities. Additionally, METRO will produce related programs, events, and panels examining classification philosophies and practices from differing perspectives.