Wesley Crump seeks the input of local fruit tree lovers.

The Utah State University Extension assistant professor is gathering data for the Wasatch Back Fruit Tree Citizen Science Project, where he taps into the experience and knowledge of regional residents who have grown and are growing apple and peach trees.

To recruit participants and spread the world, Crump will hold two orientation events. The first will be on April 10 at Wasatch Mountain State Park Visitor Center, 1281 Warm Springs Rd. in Midway, and on April 17 at the Park City Library, 1255 Park Ave. Both sessions will start at 6 p.m.

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“Last year we did all the registration virtually online,” Crumps said. “This year, in trying to plan the longevity of the program, we’re attempting a physical meeting to get feedback from those who participated, and we’re trying to create a little more buzz about the project.”

when I overlay climate data on top, we can see what trees are best adapted in the sense that their blooms aren’t getting frozen off during our late spring freezes, and what fruit we’re getting off the trees before the hard freeze in the fall.” Wesley Crump, Utah State University Extension assistant professor

Another benefit of the in-person orientations is that Crump will hand out tree tags.

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“These tags will give each tree its unique ID,” he said. “That will provide the ability for us to track individual trees much easier, and we’ll be able to see all the data that participants have been collecting for them.”

Crump started the Wasatch Back Fruit Tree Citizen Science Project last year.

“It was driven by the fact that I was new in the area but got a lot of questions about what fruit trees would survive if people planted them in their backyards,” he said. “So, I thought it would be a unique way to get hard data through polls and surveys to answer that question.”

Crump decided to make the project a community-participation study.

“I think that’s the beauty about a project like this — because for it to be successful, it needs to be based on how many community members participate,” he said.

Last year, 17 participants reported on about 100 trees, Crump said.

“It was encouraging to see the response, especially because it was the first year,” he said.

Crump is most interested in apple trees and peach trees right now.

“That’s due to a couple of reasons,” he said. “First, those trees are the ones I get asked the most about, and for the sake of keeping things manageable, before I extend the model to other trees and crops, I’m sticking with them.”

The project zeroes in on three main data points — the types of fruit trees, bloom time during the spring and harvest time during the autumn. 

“With those three data points, especially when I overlay climate data on top, we can see what trees are best adapted in the sense that their blooms aren’t getting frozen off during our late spring freezes, and what fruit we’re getting off the trees before the hard freeze in the fall,” he said. 

The two meetings this month will mark the beginning of this year’s project, even though there are still participants from last year monitoring trees, Crump said.

“People can join the project anytime, even during the summer,” he said. “While we won’t get the bloom-time data from the spring, we can still get harvest data in the fall. And they can continue the project from there.”

Crump also recognizes that some people who would like to participate aren’t able to attend the meetings.

“I would ask them to reach out to me, and we’ll find a way to get the tags to them,” he said.