Invasive Plants of Arizona

This app provides photographs and short descriptions of the most threatening invasive plant species in Arizona. These photographs and descriptions help users identify and remove invasive plants where possible. If a user locates an invasive plant in a public space, the user is able to take a picture of the plant and share it on Twitter along with the plant's GPS coordinates. Our provided hashtags, #InvAZivePlants and #DiePlantDie, make the user's findings searchable -- sightings may be monitored by individuals, community groups, and/or city and state officials. The provided hashtags may easily be replaced by other hashtags to differentiate between specific campaigns, action groups, and/or types of plants.

This app was created by the Benchmark Bobcats First Lego League Team #19526 in an effort to protect public open spaces from invasive plants encroaching on local mountain preserves, natural open spaces, and linear open corridors in the city of Phoenix and the state of Arizona. According to fs.fed.us, these invasive plants are non-native species that tend to spread out of control and cause destruction. They have caused many disasters in the last year. In August 2019, buffelgrass caused a wildfire in Tucson which scorched over 20 acres of land and burned dozens of saguaros.

Many people do not know that certain plant species are invasive and that these plants threaten our ecosystem. For those who are aware who may have observed invasive plants encroaching on public preserves and open spaces, a solution is needed. Most localities neither have the systems in place for reporting these plants or the resources to remove them. According to the Open Space Element document provided by the City of Phoenix (https://www.phoenix.gov/pddsite/Documents/PZ/pdd_pz_pdf_00168.pdf), private efforts should be made to prevent fires and remove invasive species before they become an issue. Community cleanups and collaborations are encouraged to complete

these tasks. We hope that our app increases awareness and makes removal efforts easier.