Current Results

NOTE  Any question or answer that refers to iNaturalist also applies to any of the iNaturalist network platforms: ArgentiNat, BioDiversity4All, iNaturalist.ca, iNaturalist.LU, iNaturalist.Se, iNaturalistAU, iNaturalistCL, iNaturalistCR, iNaturalistEc, iNaturalistFi, iNaturalistGR, iNaturalistGT, iNaturalistil, iNaturalistNZ, iNaturalistPa, iNaturalistTW, iNaturalistUK, naturalista.mx, NaturalistaCO, NaturalistaUY, Natusfera   Key Dates   Q: City Nature Challenge 2025 important dates:   Q: When can I start making observations that will count for the City Nature Challenge? When should I stop?   Q: Can I upload photos during the CNC that I took prior to the CNC?   Q: I took so many photos during the CNC that there’s no way I can get them all uploaded before the end of the day on April 29 – what should I do?   Making Observations   Q: Do I need to join my city’s project and add my observations to it for them to be included?   Q: How can I make sure my observations are in my city’s CNC project?   Q: What if my city isn’t within the boundary of the project? Can I still participate?   Q: What kinds of observations should I make during the CNC?   Q: What if I make an observation of something I know isn’t wild? Will it still count for the CNC?   Q: What if I don’t know what the organism is that I took a picture of? How do my observations get identified?   Q: Do I have to make observations using the app? What if I want to use a real camera?   Q: What about if I see something but didn’t get a photo of it – can I still make an observation?   Q: Can I use the Seek app to make observations?   Q: Tips for Taking Photos During the City Nature Challenge   iNaturalist   Q: Someone added an ID to my observation – should I agree with it? What if I don’t agree with it?   Q: How do observations in iNaturalist become Research Grade? Do my observations have to get to Research Grade to count for the CNC?   Q: Can I help identify what people found during the CNC? What if I’m not an expert in anything?

The City Nature Challenge is a collaboration-meets-friendly-competition to see what can be accomplished when we all work toward a common goal of observing nature in urban settings. The big three results, highlighted here, are for the total number of observations, species, and people who participated, all around the world. Below, you will find the contributions of each city to these total numbers.   Loading...

Live Results

Invented by community science staff, Lila Higgins at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County (NHM) and Alison Young and Rebecca Johnson at the California Academy of Sciences (CAS), the City Nature Challenge is an international effort for people to find and document plants and wildlife in cities across the globe. It’s a bioblitz-style competition where cities are in a friendly contest with each other to see who can make the most observations of nature, who can find the most species, and who can engage the most people.   How it all got started  Started in 2016 for the first-ever Citizen Science Day, the community science teams at NHM and California Academy of Sciences dreamed up the City Nature Challenge as a fun way to capitalize on their home cities’ friendly rivalry and hold an event around urban biodiversity. The first City Nature Challenge was an eight-day competition between Los Angeles and San Francisco, engaging residents and visitors in documenting nature to better understand urban biodiversity.     In its first year, over 20,000 observations were made by more than 1,000 people in a one-week period, cataloging approximately 1,600 species in each location, including new records for both areas. During the 2016 CNC, there was so much excitement and interest from people in other cities that the organizers knew they couldn’t keep the fun just to themselves. In 2017 the City Nature Challenge went national, and in 2018, the CNC became an international event!     City Nature Challenge Leadership     Lila Higgins (they/them)  Co-Senior Manager, Community Science and City Nature Challenge co-founder Natural History Museums of Los Angeles County  Lila, who joined the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County in 2008, is an informal educator with almost two decades of experience in museum education and community science programming. Her fascination with nature started early; she grew up on a farm in the U.K. where she spent her time chasing butterflies, playing in hollow trees, and pretending to be a badger. Lila, was a lead educator on the Museum’s newest nature-themed exhibits—the Nature Lab and Nature Gardens. They also authored the book Wild L.A. and co-founded the global community science event called the City Nature Challenge. They hold a bachelor’s degree in entomology from UC Riverside and a master’s degree in environmental education from California State University, San Bernardino.     Rebecca Johnson (she/her)  Director, Center for Biodiversity and Community Science and City Nature Challenge co-founder California Academy of Sciences  Dr. Rebecca Johnson directs the Center for Biodiversity and Community Science and the Thriving California Initiative at the California Academy of Sciences. She and her team focus on designing equitable, inclusive, and meaningful events and campaigns to gather biodiversity data and mobilize those data to understand climate change and stem biodiversity loss in California. She is passionate about building partnerships and coalitions around place-based nature connection, biodiversity data use, and on-the-ground action for positive change. She co-founded the City Nature Challenge and Snapshot Cal Coast. Dr. Johnson is on the California Biodiversity Network Steering Committee and leads the Academy’s biodiversity work with the City of San Francisco. She is the board chair for Bay Nature Magazine and a TOGETHER Bay Area board member. Dr. Johnson earned her B.A. in Integrative Biology from the University of California, Berkeley, her M.A. in Systematics and Ecology from San Francisco State University, and her Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from the University of California, Santa Cruz. She lives in San Francisco with her family.      Amy Jaecker-Jones (she/her)  Program Manager, Community Science Program and CNC Managing global organizers Natural History Museums of Los Angeles County  Amy joined the Community Science Program at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County in 2018. Her primary responsibility is coordinating the City Nature Challenge at the local and global levels. Other projects she has worked on include the Backyard Bat Survey, co-creating a bilingual pollinator guide with a local elementary school, and field-testing community science kits at several Los Angeles County parks. Amy is a California Naturalist, a Certified Interpretive Guide, and a graduate of Occidental College.     Sam Tayag (they/them)  Program Manager, Community Science Program and CNC Managing global organizers Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County    Sam joined the museum in 2021. Their roots in community science grow from field research with their Grandma as a child in the lahar fields of the Mt. Pinatubo volcanic eruption. There they saw the power of community knowledge and mutual aid with the land applied to scientific research. They work to support community relationships to the land and natural science as a California Naturalist, former nurse, community organizer, and . They center their family’s traditional Indigenous ways of learning and connecting, including their experience as a parent to an awesome young child.     Olivia VanDamme  Coordinator, Center for Biodiversity and Community Science and CNC Managing global organizers California Academy of Sciences    Olivia started at the California Academy of Sciences in 2019. She is a new member on the community science team, and excited to support City Nature Challenge! She previously supported Science Action Club, a community science based international STEM program providing out-of-school time programs with professional development and science kits. Olivia has been recognized by Justice Outside for her extraordinary leadership and commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion in nature, as an alumna of their Rising Leaders Fellowship program. She holds a BA in Geography and Latin American Studies from California State University, Chico. As a Latina surfer and dedicated ocean advocate, Olivia volunteers with Brown Girl Surf, was the previous Program Director for City Surf Project, and has worked on several environmental justice initiatives at government agencies such as the California Coastal Commission. She currently serves as an Advisory Board Member for the Explore the Coast grant program through the California State Coastal Conservancy.     Anabela Plos  CNC Spanish Language Global Organizer Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales "Bernardino Rivadavia" MACN-CONICET  Anabela Plos has a PhD in Natural Sciences from the National University of La Plata, performs her duties at the "Bernardino Rivadavia" Argentine Museum of Natural Sciences as a member of the National Research Council Scientific and Technical (CONICET)  Since 2015, she has managed the Argentine node of the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). Within the GBIF community, she served as Regional Representative of Latin American and Caribbean Nodes (2016-2021) and as a committee member of the Biodiversity Information for Development program for the Caribbean (BID), financed by the European Union, coordinated by GBIF. Anabela also coordinates and promotes activities related to open and participatory science, such as the City Nature Challenge, the Great Southern BioBlitz and various activities in the Wikimedia community in Argentina and the Latin American and Caribbean region.     Alison Young (she/her)  City Nature Challenge co-founder  Alison served as the Co-Director of the Center for Biodiversity and Community Science at the California Academy of Sciences, where she builds community and partnerships around nature and sharing knowledge about biodiversity, creates events and campaigns focused on documenting species, and brings this community-collected data to answer scientific questions and help inform decision-making. Alison also co-directed the Academy’s Thriving California strategic initiative, focused on scaling biodiversity science and education and collaborating with communities, other organizations, and the State to build a healthy, resilient future for people and nature in California. Alison’s background is in marine biology, she holds a Masters in Biology from Humboldt State University for research focused on the potential effects of climate change on California’s rocky intertidal communities, and a B.A. in Biology from Swarthmore College. When she’s not in the tidepools for work, she can often be found in the tidepools for fun – usually photographing nudibranchs, or in her local ceramics studio, happily bent over a pottery wheel, covered in clay.

About

Join the 2025 City Nature Challenge!  Our list of participating cities and a link to our global project will be posted in March 2025.   Why participate?  There is nature all around us! Knowing what species are in our city and where they are helps us study and protect them, but the ONLY way to do that is by all of us – scientists, land managers, and the community – working together to find and document the nature in our area.  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!   Taking Part is Easy   It can be any WILD plant, animal, fungi, slime mold, or any other evidence of life found in your city. Take a picture or record the sound of what you find. Be sure to note the location of the critter or plant. Share your observations through iNaturalist or your city’s chosen platform. If it’s planted or taken care of by people it is not WILD. Mark it captive/cultivated!

Participate

The Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk City Nature Challenge Virtual Information Session Fairfield and Westchester Counties but Open to Everyone English Online Denver Zoo, Denver, Perú Charla Informativa sobre el Reto Naturalista Urbano Andes Centrales - Peru Spanish Online Nature Plearn Club (Nature Play and Learn Club) Introduction to City Nature Challenge 2024 in Thailand Thailand Thai Online The Nature Conservancy/Prince George’s Parks and Recreation/Capital Nature Be an iNat Champion for the City Nature Challenge Washington DC Metro Area English Online MacroBlitz Adding Aquatic Macroinvertebrate Observations to iNaturalist Anywhere English Online IFMA - Campus Açailândia Treinamento Virtual do Desafio Mundial da Natureza Urbana 2024 Região Tocantina, Maranhão Portuguese Online WWF-India Gear-up for City Nature Challenge 2024  English Online Jardín Botánico de Bogotá José Celestino Mutis Aprende acerca del reto naturalista en la Sabana de Bogotá Sur América, Colombia Spanish Online Macaulay Honors College City Nature Challenge: NYC - Getting Started on iNaturalist Webinar New York City English Online WWF-India Wilderness in my Backyard (Delhi NCR) Delhi, India English Online School Beyond the Horizon iNaturalist Training and How to take good observation photos using phone. Thailand Thai Online City Nature Challenge India प्रकृति की खोज में- नागरिक विज्ञान सरल है : iNaturalist से परिचय India Hindi Online University Libraries at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst iNaturalist: When You Want to Know "What's that Flower/Bird/Bug (and More!)" Massachusetts English Online University Libraries at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst "Name That Species" with iNaturalist Massachusetts English Online

Events

This is the list of participating cities for the 2024 City Nature Challenge. While this list is updated regularly, it may not reflect any last minute changes to a city’s participation. Please click on the link to your city for any changes to events in your area.  If your city is not listed here, we welcome you to join our and take part wherever you live. Note: To participate in the global project you must first ‘join’ the project, using the link near the top right corner. For all other cities listed below, there is no need to join your local project, though you may choose to do so. All observations made within the boundaries of participating cities between April 26 - 29 will automatically be added.

Participating Cities

Are you interested in being a local organizer for the next City Nature Challenge? Anyone can be a CNC organizer! We’ve had local organizers that are from all walks of life—from high school students and retired people to staff from nature centers, museums, non-profit organizations, and local government officials.   Getting Started As a Local Organizer  Here are some easy steps to get started as a NEW and RETURNING Organizer:   1. Join our email list! Subscribe to share your basic contact information with     us. Please note that subscribing to the email list does not commit you to     organizing for CNC, you can unsubscribe at any point.   2. Attend one New Organizer Informational Meeting      1. Mandatory attendance for NEW organizers only.     2. English Meetings        1. Wednesday, 9 October at 1pm PDT / 20:00 UTC        2. Wednesday, 9 October at 4pm PDT / 23:00 UTC        3. Thursday, 10 October at 8 AM PDT / 15:00 UTC     3. Spanish Meeting        1.  Friday, 11 October at 1pm PDT / 21:00 UTC  3. Attend one CNC 2025 Kickoff Meeting      1. Mandatory attendance for all NEW and RETURNING organizers.     2. English Meetings        1. Wednesday, 6 November at 4PM PDT / 23:00 UTC         2. Thursday, 7 November at  8AM PDT / 15:00 UTC        3. Thursday, 7 November at 1PM PDT / 20:00 UTC       3. Spanish Meeting        1. Friday, 8 November at 1pm PDT / 21:00 UTC  4. Fill out the CNC 2025 Commitment to Organize Form (links to this form will     be shared during the the Kickoff meeting).     1. Mandatory for every organizer to fill out.            *Note: We have organizers all over the globe, each virtual meeting we run is held three times to accommodate different time zones. Organizers only need to attend one of the three meetings. All meeting times are shown in UTC (Coordinated Universal Time), and will be recorded so you can catch up if you miss them.    Organizer FAQ   How will we stay in touch?   How can I access the resources and information I will need as an organizer?   How many cities can I organize as a CNC local organizer?

CNC Local Organizer Information

Research Papers  PeerJ Life & Environment A citizen science approach to evaluating US cities for biotic homogenization   Biodiversity A case study from the City Nature Challenge 2018: international comparison of participants’ responses to citizen science in action   UCL Discovery Evaluating public engagement with biological recording events - Case study of City Nature Challenge 2018   Biological Conservation COVID-19 pandemic drives changes in participation in citizen science project “City Nature Challenge” in Tokyo   ArXiv iNaturalist citizen science community during City Nature Challenge: new computational approach for analysis of user activity     Press and Media  The San Diego Union-Tribune San Diego Natural History Museum plans biodiversity blitz City Project of San Diego  Atlántida Ecocampus aúna a colectivos con objeto de conocer su fórmula para participar en la conservación de la biodiversidad City Project Bahia de Cadiz  El Guadarramista ¿Te apuntas al City Nature Challenge 2018? City Project Madrid, Barcelona, Sevilla, Bahia de Cadiz  EFE: Verde Cuatro ciudades españolas en el biomaratón para la observación de la naturaleza City Project Madrid  La Vanguardia Biomaratón busca impulsar observación de naturaleza en 4 ciudades españolas City Project Madrid, Barcelona, Sevilla, Bahia de Cadiz  South China Morning Post Conservation in Hong Kong: citizen scientists enlisted to record and safeguard city’s amazing biodiversity City Project Hong Kong  am New York Forest Hills’ QueensWay teaches biodiversity, human impact to high school students City Project New York City  Utah Public Radio Nature is Calling: Satisfy Your Curiosity And Contribute To Scientific Research Using iNaturalist City Project Wasatch Front (Salt Lake City)  Voice of America Youngsters Help Scientists Study Nature in 16 US Cities City Project Los Angeles / All Cities  Marin Independent Journal City Nature Challenge a fun way to become a naturalist City Project San Francisco / Los Angeles  KCET Why is Citizen Science Important? City Project Los Angeles / San Francisco  Los Angeles Times L.A. takes on San Francisco in the first City Nature Challenge City Project Los Angeles / San Francisco 

Press & Publications

Want to find out more about the City Nature Challenge? Fill out the form below to contact the event’s co-organizers.  Name: Email: Subject Message: Submit

Contact Us

2023    2023 Totals  1,870,763 Observations 57,227+ Species 66,394 Participants   Participating Cities  

Past Results

Welcome to the City Nature Challenge Education Toolkit!  We are currently updating our resources. In the meantime, we hope you will find these past activities for both formal and informal education settings useful.  While many of the activities are meant for groups, many can be adapted for use at home as well.  1  Read this educator guide for tips for facilitating, managing, and supporting student outdoor learning and exploration in schoolyards, nearby parks, or other green space. 2  Take a tour through iNaturalist, the website we will use in the U.S. to document observations. Learn how to best use this technology with students. This can be used in any formal or informal education setting. 3  View our “Educator Basecamp,” recommended progressions for short classroom and field activities for formal and informal settings. Progressions include activities, media, and other tools for the CNC, for a variety of ages and experience levels. See how they help to meet science standards and educational goals.   Want to fill out our Educator Basecamp survey?   Education Basecamp Resources     Education Working Group Members:  Initial resources developed by the members of the City Nature Challenge 2018 Education Working Group.  Amy Lorenz, Encyclopedia of Life (Boston, MA) Anne Haywood, Mountain to Sea Education (Miami, FL) Benjamin Ong, The Rimba Project / University of Malaya (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) Catherine Hoffman, Cumberland River Compact / SciStarter (Nashville, TN) Emily Mortimer, Tulsa Regional STEM Alliance (Tulsa, OK) Erica Prange, Cleveland Museum of Natural History (Cleveland, OH) Katie Remine, Woodland Park Zoo (Seattle, WA) Kelly O’Donnell, CUNY Macaulay Honors College (New York City, NY) Marie Studer, Encyclopedia of Life (Boston, MA) Mary Lee Kennedy, Agents of Discovery (New York City, NY) Pam Eby, Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo & Aquarium (Omaha, NE) Paul Whisman, Natural History Museum of Utah (Salt Lake City, UT)

Education Toolkit

Copenhagen

Guimarães

Invented by community science staff, Lila Higgins at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County (NHM) and Alison Young and Rebecca Johnson at the California Academy of Sciences (CAS), the City Nature Challenge is an international effort for people to find and document plants and wildlife in cities across the globe. It’s a bioblitz-style competition where cities are in a friendly contest with each other to see who can make the most observations of nature, who can find the most species, and who can engage the most people.<h2>How it all got started</h2>Started in 2016 for the first-ever Citizen Science Day, the community science teams at NHM and California Academy of Sciences dreamed up the City Nature Challenge as a fun way to capitalize on their home cities’ friendly rivalry and hold an event around urban biodiversity. The first City Nature Challenge was an eight-day competition between Los Angeles and San Francisco, engaging residents and visitors in documenting nature to better understand urban biodiversity.&nbsp;<img src="https://cnc-assets.sfo3.digitaloceanspaces.com/NHMLA/la_vs_sf_8434b9b6ac.svg?updated_at=2023-02-06T05:20:00.858Z" alt="Text reading L.A. vs. S.F.">In its first year, over 20,000 observations were made by more than 1,000 people in a one-week period, cataloging approximately 1,600 species in each location, including new records for both areas. During the 2016 CNC, there was so much excitement and interest from people in other cities that the organizers knew they couldn’t keep the fun just to themselves. In 2017 the City Nature Challenge went national, and in 2018, the CNC became an international event!

<h2>City Nature Challenge Leadership</h2><img src="https://cnc-assets.sfo3.digitaloceanspaces.com/NHMLA/lila_higgins_e02a76cf83.jpeg" alt="lila-higgins.jpeg" srcset="https://cnc-assets.sfo3.digitaloceanspaces.com/NHMLA/thumbnail_lila_higgins_e02a76cf83.jpeg 245w,https://cnc-assets.sfo3.digitaloceanspaces.com/NHMLA/small_lila_higgins_e02a76cf83.jpeg 500w,https://cnc-assets.sfo3.digitaloceanspaces.com/NHMLA/medium_lila_higgins_e02a76cf83.jpeg 750w,https://cnc-assets.sfo3.digitaloceanspaces.com/NHMLA/large_lila_higgins_e02a76cf83.jpeg 1000w," sizes="100vw"><h3>Lila Higgins (they/them)</h3>Co-Senior Manager, Community Science and City Nature Challenge co-founder Natural History Museums of Los Angeles CountyLila, who joined the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County in 2008, is an informal educator with almost two decades of experience in museum education and community science programming. Her fascination with nature started early; she grew up on a farm in the U.K. where she spent her time chasing butterflies, playing in hollow trees, and pretending to be a badger. Lila, was a lead educator on the Museum’s newest nature-themed exhibits—the Nature Lab and Nature Gardens. They also authored the book Wild L.A. and co-founded the global community science event called the City Nature Challenge. They hold a bachelor’s degree in entomology from UC Riverside and a master’s degree in environmental education from California State University, San Bernardino.<img src="https://cnc-assets.sfo3.digitaloceanspaces.com/NHMLA/R_Johnson_b7eff99b54.jpeg" alt="RJohnson.jpeg" srcset="https://cnc-assets.sfo3.digitaloceanspaces.com/NHMLA/thumbnail_R_Johnson_b7eff99b54.jpeg 156w,https://cnc-assets.sfo3.digitaloceanspaces.com/NHMLA/small_R_Johnson_b7eff99b54.jpeg 500w,https://cnc-assets.sfo3.digitaloceanspaces.com/NHMLA/medium_R_Johnson_b7eff99b54.jpeg 750w,https://cnc-assets.sfo3.digitaloceanspaces.com/NHMLA/large_R_Johnson_b7eff99b54.jpeg 1000w," sizes="100vw"><h3>Rebecca Johnson (she/her)</h3>Director, Center for Biodiversity and Community Science and City Nature Challenge co-founder California Academy of SciencesDr. Rebecca Johnson directs the Center for Biodiversity and Community Science and the Thriving California Initiative at the California Academy of Sciences. She and her team focus on designing equitable, inclusive, and meaningful events and campaigns to gather biodiversity data and mobilize those data to understand climate change and stem biodiversity loss in California. She is passionate about building partnerships and coalitions around place-based nature connection, biodiversity data use, and on-the-ground action for positive change. She co-founded the City Nature Challenge and Snapshot Cal Coast. Dr. Johnson is on the California Biodiversity Network Steering Committee and leads the Academy’s biodiversity work with the City of San Francisco. She is the board chair for Bay Nature Magazine and a TOGETHER Bay Area board member. Dr. Johnson earned her B.A. in Integrative Biology from the University of California, Berkeley, her M.A. in Systematics and Ecology from San Francisco State University, and her Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from the University of California, Santa Cruz. She lives in San Francisco with her family.&nbsp;<img src="https://cnc-assets.sfo3.digitaloceanspaces.com/NHMLA/Amy_Jaecker_Jones_Reduced_Size_69996455c0.jpg" alt="Photograph of Amy Jaecker-Jones standing in front of a pond" srcset="https://cnc-assets.sfo3.digitaloceanspaces.com/NHMLA/thumbnail_Amy_Jaecker_Jones_Reduced_Size_69996455c0.jpg 245w,https://cnc-assets.sfo3.digitaloceanspaces.com/NHMLA/small_Amy_Jaecker_Jones_Reduced_Size_69996455c0.jpg 500w,https://cnc-assets.sfo3.digitaloceanspaces.com/NHMLA/medium_Amy_Jaecker_Jones_Reduced_Size_69996455c0.jpg 750w,https://cnc-assets.sfo3.digitaloceanspaces.com/NHMLA/large_Amy_Jaecker_Jones_Reduced_Size_69996455c0.jpg 1000w," sizes="100vw"><h3>Amy Jaecker-Jones (she/her)</h3>Program Manager, Community Science Program and CNC Managing global organizers Natural History Museums of Los Angeles CountyAmy joined the Community Science Program at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County in 2018. Her primary responsibility is coordinating the City Nature Challenge at the local and global levels. Other projects she has worked on include the Backyard Bat Survey, co-creating a bilingual pollinator guide with a local elementary school, and field-testing community science kits at several Los Angeles County parks. Amy is a California Naturalist, a Certified Interpretive Guide, and a graduate of Occidental College.<img src="https://cnc-assets.sfo3.digitaloceanspaces.com/NHMLA/Sam_Tayag_6d4db247d4.jpg" alt="Photograph of Sam Tayag looking at a museum specimen" srcset="https://cnc-assets.sfo3.digitaloceanspaces.com/NHMLA/thumbnail_Sam_Tayag_6d4db247d4.jpg 156w,https://cnc-assets.sfo3.digitaloceanspaces.com/NHMLA/small_Sam_Tayag_6d4db247d4.jpg 500w,https://cnc-assets.sfo3.digitaloceanspaces.com/NHMLA/medium_Sam_Tayag_6d4db247d4.jpg 750w,https://cnc-assets.sfo3.digitaloceanspaces.com/NHMLA/large_Sam_Tayag_6d4db247d4.jpg 1000w," sizes="100vw"><h3>Sam Tayag (they/them)</h3>Program Manager, Community Science Program and CNC Managing global organizers Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County &nbsp;Sam joined the museum in 2021. Their roots in community science grow from field research with their Grandma as a child in the lahar fields of the Mt. Pinatubo volcanic eruption. There they saw the power of community knowledge and mutual aid with the land applied to scientific research. They work to support community relationships to the land and natural science as a California Naturalist, former nurse, community organizer, and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.astc.org/impact-initiatives/community-science-dialogue-deliberation-fellowship-program/">ASTC Community Science Dialogue &amp; Deliberation Fellow</a>. They center their family’s traditional Indigenous ways of learning and connecting, including their experience as a parent to an awesome young child.<img src="https://cnc-assets.sfo3.digitaloceanspaces.com/NHMLA/Olivia_Van_Damme_CC_BY_Michael_Estrada_2020_04_17_6452b29c06.jpeg" alt="Photograph of Olivia VanDamme" srcset="https://cnc-assets.sfo3.digitaloceanspaces.com/NHMLA/thumbnail_Olivia_Van_Damme_CC_BY_Michael_Estrada_2020_04_17_6452b29c06.jpeg 125w,https://cnc-assets.sfo3.digitaloceanspaces.com/NHMLA/small_Olivia_Van_Damme_CC_BY_Michael_Estrada_2020_04_17_6452b29c06.jpeg 400w,https://cnc-assets.sfo3.digitaloceanspaces.com/NHMLA/medium_Olivia_Van_Damme_CC_BY_Michael_Estrada_2020_04_17_6452b29c06.jpeg 600w,https://cnc-assets.sfo3.digitaloceanspaces.com/NHMLA/large_Olivia_Van_Damme_CC_BY_Michael_Estrada_2020_04_17_6452b29c06.jpeg 800w," sizes="100vw"><h3>Olivia VanDamme</h3>Coordinator, Center for Biodiversity and Community Science and CNC Managing global organizers California Academy of Sciences &nbsp;Olivia started at the California Academy of Sciences in 2019. She is a new member on the community science team, and excited to support City Nature Challenge! She previously supported Science Action Club, a community science based international STEM program providing out-of-school time programs with professional development and science kits. Olivia has been recognized by Justice Outside for her extraordinary leadership and commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion in nature, as an alumna of their Rising Leaders Fellowship program. She holds a BA in Geography and Latin American Studies from California State University, Chico. As a Latina surfer and dedicated ocean advocate, Olivia volunteers with Brown Girl Surf, was the previous Program Director for City Surf Project, and has worked on several environmental justice initiatives at government agencies such as the California Coastal Commission. She currently serves as an Advisory Board Member for the Explore the Coast grant program through the California State Coastal Conservancy.<img src="https://cnc-assets.sfo3.digitaloceanspaces.com/NHMLA/Anabela_Plos_f7d57bdf0d.jpg" alt="Photograph of Anabela Plos standing in front of flowers" srcset="https://cnc-assets.sfo3.digitaloceanspaces.com/NHMLA/thumbnail_Anabela_Plos_f7d57bdf0d.jpg 156w,https://cnc-assets.sfo3.digitaloceanspaces.com/NHMLA/small_Anabela_Plos_f7d57bdf0d.jpg 500w,https://cnc-assets.sfo3.digitaloceanspaces.com/NHMLA/medium_Anabela_Plos_f7d57bdf0d.jpg 750w,https://cnc-assets.sfo3.digitaloceanspaces.com/NHMLA/large_Anabela_Plos_f7d57bdf0d.jpg 1000w," sizes="100vw"><h3>Anabela Plos</h3>CNC Spanish Language Global Organizer Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales "Bernardino Rivadavia" MACN-CONICETAnabela Plos has a PhD in Natural Sciences from the National University of La Plata, performs her duties at the "Bernardino Rivadavia" Argentine Museum of Natural Sciences as a member of the National Research Council Scientific and Technical (CONICET)Since 2015, she has managed the Argentine node of the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). Within the GBIF community, she served as Regional Representative of Latin American and Caribbean Nodes (2016-2021) and as a committee member of the Biodiversity Information for Development program for the Caribbean (BID), financed by the European Union, coordinated by GBIF. Anabela also coordinates and promotes activities related to open and participatory science, such as the City Nature Challenge, the Great Southern BioBlitz and various activities in the Wikimedia community in Argentina and the Latin American and Caribbean region.<img src="https://cnc-assets.sfo3.digitaloceanspaces.com/NHMLA/Alison_Young_Reduced_Size_5f1275ed20.jpg" alt="Photograph of Alison Young Standing in front of tide pools" srcset="https://cnc-assets.sfo3.digitaloceanspaces.com/NHMLA/thumbnail_Alison_Young_Reduced_Size_5f1275ed20.jpg 230w,https://cnc-assets.sfo3.digitaloceanspaces.com/NHMLA/small_Alison_Young_Reduced_Size_5f1275ed20.jpg 500w,https://cnc-assets.sfo3.digitaloceanspaces.com/NHMLA/medium_Alison_Young_Reduced_Size_5f1275ed20.jpg 750w,https://cnc-assets.sfo3.digitaloceanspaces.com/NHMLA/large_Alison_Young_Reduced_Size_5f1275ed20.jpg 1000w," sizes="100vw"><h3>Alison Young (she/her)</h3>City Nature Challenge co-founderAlison served as the Co-Director of the Center for Biodiversity and Community Science at the California Academy of Sciences, where she builds community and partnerships around nature and sharing knowledge about biodiversity, creates events and campaigns focused on documenting species, and brings this community-collected data to answer scientific questions and help inform decision-making. Alison also co-directed the Academy’s Thriving California strategic initiative, focused on scaling biodiversity science and education and collaborating with communities, other organizations, and the State to build a healthy, resilient future for people and nature in California. Alison’s background is in marine biology, she holds a Masters in Biology from Humboldt State University for research focused on the potential effects of climate change on California’s rocky intertidal communities, and a B.A. in Biology from Swarthmore College. When she’s not in the tidepools for work, she can often be found in the tidepools for fun – usually photographing nudibranchs, or in her local ceramics studio, happily bent over a pottery wheel, covered in clay.

Our list of participating cities and a link to our global project will be posted in March 2025.

Join the 2025 City Nature Challenge!

<h2>Why participate?</h2>There is nature all around us! Knowing what species are in our city and where they are helps us study and protect them, but the ONLY way to do that is by all of us – scientists, land managers, and the community – working together to find and document the nature in our area.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!

Taking Part is Easy

Welcome to the City Nature Challenge Education Toolkit! &nbsp;We are currently updating our resources. In the meantime, we hope you will find these past activities for both formal and informal education settings useful. &nbsp;While many of the activities are meant for groups, many can be adapted for use at home as well.

Education Basecamp Resources

<h3>Education Working Group Members:</h3>Initial resources developed by the members of the City Nature Challenge 2018 Education Working Group.Amy Lorenz, Encyclopedia of Life (Boston, MA) Anne Haywood, Mountain to Sea Education (Miami, FL) Benjamin Ong, The Rimba Project / University of Malaya (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) Catherine Hoffman, Cumberland River Compact / SciStarter (Nashville, TN) Emily Mortimer, Tulsa Regional STEM Alliance (Tulsa, OK) Erica Prange, Cleveland Museum of Natural History (Cleveland, OH) Katie Remine, Woodland Park Zoo (Seattle, WA) Kelly O’Donnell, CUNY Macaulay Honors College (New York City, NY) Marie Studer, Encyclopedia of Life (Boston, MA) Mary Lee Kennedy, Agents of Discovery (New York City, NY) Pam Eby, Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo &amp; Aquarium (Omaha, NE) Paul Whisman, Natural History Museum of Utah (Salt Lake City, UT)

Any question or answer that refers to iNaturalist also applies to any of the iNaturalist network platforms: ArgentiNat, BioDiversity4All, iNaturalist.ca, iNaturalist.LU, iNaturalist.Se, iNaturalistAU, iNaturalistCL, iNaturalistCR, iNaturalistEc, iNaturalistFi, iNaturalistGR, iNaturalistGT, iNaturalistil, iNaturalistNZ, iNaturalistPa, iNaturalistTW, iNaturalistUK, naturalista.mx, NaturalistaCO, NaturalistaUY, Natusfera

NOTE

Key Dates

Making Observations

iNaturalist

Want to find out more about the City Nature Challenge? Fill out the form below to contact the event’s co-organizers.

Contact us

Research Papers

Press and Media

Are you interested in being a local organizer for the next City Nature Challenge? Anyone can be a CNC organizer! We’ve had local organizers that are from all walks of life—from high school students and retired people to staff from nature centers, museums, non-profit organizations, and local government officials.<h2>Getting Started As a Local Organizer</h2>Here are some easy steps to get started as a NEW and RETURNING Organizer:<ol style="list-style-type:decimal;"><li>Join our email list! Subscribe <a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdz-c9UL0DsMZZYdZFPjQ1Fkn_olzk-j8f23Aj-PCH-ZRIHxw/viewform?usp=sf_link">here</a> to share your basic contact information with us. Please note that subscribing to the email list does not commit you to organizing for CNC, you can unsubscribe at any point.&nbsp;</li><li>Attend one New Organizer Informational Meeting&nbsp;<ol><li>Mandatory attendance for NEW organizers only.</li><li>English Meetings<ol><li>Wednesday, 9 October at 1pm PDT / 20:00 UTC</li><li>Wednesday, 9 October at 4pm PDT / 23:00 UTC</li><li>Thursday, 10 October at 8 AM PDT / 15:00 UTC</li></ol></li><li>Spanish Meeting<ol><li>&nbsp;Friday, 11 October at 1pm PDT / 21:00 UTC</li></ol></li></ol></li><li>Attend one CNC 2025 Kickoff Meeting&nbsp;<ol><li>Mandatory attendance for all NEW and RETURNING organizers.</li><li>English Meetings<ol><li>Wednesday, 6 November at 4PM PDT / 23:00 UTC&nbsp;</li><li>Thursday, 7 November at &nbsp;8AM PDT / 15:00 UTC</li><li>Thursday, 7 November at 1PM PDT / 20:00 UTC &nbsp;</li></ol></li><li>Spanish Meeting<ol><li>Friday, 8 November at 1pm PDT / 21:00 UTC</li></ol></li></ol></li><li>Fill out the CNC 2025 Commitment to Organize Form (links to this form will be shared during the the Kickoff meeting).<ol><li>Mandatory for every organizer to fill out.&nbsp; &nbsp;</li></ol></li></ol>*Note: We have organizers all over the globe, each virtual meeting we run is held three times to accommodate different time zones. Organizers only need to attend one of the three meetings. All meeting times are shown in UTC (Coordinated Universal Time), and will be recorded so you can catch up if you miss them.&nbsp;

Once you subscribe to our e-mail list <a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdz-c9UL0DsMZZYdZFPjQ1Fkn_olzk-j8f23Aj-PCH-ZRIHxw/viewform">here</a> to share your contact information with us, we will e-mail you regularly (between 1-3 times a month) with information and instructions.

How will we stay in touch?

We share resources and information with you in a number of ways, 1) Through the CNC Google Drive, 2) on a “members only” CNC Organizer webpage, 3) through a Discord channel, and lastly 4) via organizer e-mails.

How can I access the resources and information I will need as an organizer?

We ask that organizers organize no more than two cities by themselves (i.e. as the sole organizer). You can team up with other organizers and work together–this is something we highly encourage. There needs to be at least one sole organizer for each city, and each organizer can be the sole organizer of no more than two cities.