The City Nature Challenge: An International Success!
The City Nature Challenge is an annual international effort encouraging people to find and document plants and wildlife in cities around the globe using iNaturalist. From April 24-27, 2020, in conjunction with our partners, The Natural History Museum of Utah led a team of 8 counties (Box Elder, Cache, Davis, Salt Lake, Summit, Utah, Wasatch, Weber) as a unified urban area called The Wasatch. 2020 proved to be a record-breaking year of participation in Utah, with more people, observations of nature, and species identified than ever before!
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!
Visit The Wasatch project page on iNaturalist to explore observations made during the challenge.
How to participate next year:
The City Nature Challenge will be back in 2021! Check back here for more details throughout the year. 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!
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 our 2020 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, US Department of Agriculture, US Fish & Wildlife Service, Utah's Hogle Zoo, Utah Open Lands
