Get ready for The City Nature Challenge 2021!
Nature is all around us in Northern Utah – and we need your help photographing it from April 30-May 3, 2021, during The City Nature Challenge! This annual international effort encourages people to find and photograph plants and wildlife in cities around the globe using iNaturalist. We call our city "The Wasatch" (a combination of Box Elder, Cache, Davis, Salt Lake, Summit, Utah, Wasatch, or Weber Counties).
Participating is Easy!
- Take photos of the wildlife and plants you see within the project boundaries from April 30-May 3, 2021
- Add your photos to iNaturalist, a free platform you can use as an App, or access via a web browser.
Local organiers of the City Nature Challenge 2021: The Wasatch will be sharing resources and announcing fun ways to get involved soon - Check back here for more information!
In the meantime, you can keep recordig biodiversity wherever you are, using iNaturalist:
- Create an account on iNaturalist (and download the app for your mobile device)
- Follow The Wasatch iNaturalist project for updates
- Find wildlife in your area (any wild living thing- or evidence of a wild living thing)
- Take a picture (or several) of what you find
- Share your observation on iNaturalist!
The City Nature Challenge 2020: An International Success!
The City Nature Challenge 2020 looked a little different than usual - we didn't host in person events, and couldn't get together to look for nature like we did for previous years. None-the-less, 2020 proved to be a record-breaking year of participation internationally, and locally with more people, observations of nature, and species identified in Utah than ever before! Explore observations made during the challenge!
Knowing more about the species that live in and around our cities, towns, and neighborhoods helps us study and protect them. One of the best ways to do this is by all of us – scientists, land managers, and the community – working together to find and document this nearby nature. By participating in the City Nature Challenge, not only do you learn more about your local nature, but you can also make your city a better place – for you and other species! We are excited to see what you find in 2021!
Continuing Education Resources:
- Explore results, continue to discover local biodiversity, and prepare for the 2021 Challenge with this City Nature Challenge Education Toolkit
- Host a bioblitz around your home with National Geographic Backyard Bioblitz
- Explore Common Utah Birds with this guide from the Tracy Aviary
- Explore nature in and around your home
iNaturalist Video Tutorials:
Special thanks to all City Nature Challenge: The Wasatch Partners
Hutchings Museum, Jordan River Commission, Ogden Nature Center, Red Butte Garden, Salt Lake City Library, Salt Lake County Library, Stokes Nature Center, Swaner Preserve and EcoCenter, Thanksgiving Point, The Nature Conservancy, Tracy Aviary, TreeUtah, US Fish & Wildlife Service, Utah's Hogle Zoo, Utah Open Lands, Utah Society for Environmental Education
