Take the City Nature Challenge

Do you like getting out into nature? Are you a competitive person? Do you enjoy taking pictures of plants and wildlife?

Well, if you answered “yes” to any of the questions above, then we have an event for you. From April 14-18, 2017, the San Francisco Bay Area will be competing against 16 other cities and counties nationwide in the City Nature Challenge (external link). The goal of this event is to show how biodiverse our region is by documenting as many different species found here as possible. All nine SF Bay Area counties will be counted together (Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano, and Sonoma).

Last year’s City Nature Challenge was a HUGE success with over 10,000 observations made in the SF Bay Area in one week!

How to participate:

  1. Download the iNaturalist app (external link) on your mobile device from the Google Play Store or Apple Store (external links) and create an account.
  2. Go outside and explore during the week of April 14-18 and take pictures of what you see — plants, animals, fungi, etc. — using your phone’s camera.
  3. Use the iNaturalist app to enter your observations and upload your photos to the iNaturalist database.

You do not need to have a data connection to participate. Just take pictures and enter your observations out in the field. Then, sync your observations when you have a data or wifi connection.

You can record your observations anywhere, but we would love for you to help us document the biodiversity of our many redwood parks. Use our Discover Redwood Parks Interactive Map to find the perfect park to explore.

About the author

Deborah joined the League's staff in 2013 as the Education & Interpretation Manager. She brings with her extensive experience teaching science, developing curriculum and connecting kids to the natural world.

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