City Nature Challenge Comes to Sacramento Region

For the first time ever, the Sacramento Region will be participating in the City Nature Challenge. We will be competing with more than 160 cities all over the world to see who can catalogue the most nature in just 4 days! We think that joining this global effort to discover local biodiversity through citizen science is a great opportunity for the Center, and for the region.  

The City Nature Challenge began as a nature-observation competition between the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles County in 2016. Since then, the competition has continued to expand worldwide and this year we will be competing against over 160 cities! Participants will use the iNaturalist app to photograph, catalogue and identify observations of wildlife in the area. From April 26th-29th, 2019, any iNaturalist post within the Sacramento Region will count toward our totals, the city with the highest total wins! In addition, all of the “research quality” observations recorded go into a global database that scientists all over the world can access and use to help better understand and protect nature.

Sacramento CNC has partnered with a variety of groups throughout the region to make our first year in the competition great! We have the California Naturalist Program leading bioblitzes, educators in Woodland, CA teaching children K-6 how to bioblitz, and a number of nature centers/reserves hosting bioblitzes in their locals areas.

This is a fun and easy way for you to get involved in citizen science. Get a group of friends together for a hike and observe along the way, or attend one of our events and meet new people! Check out our website for more information and calendar of events, and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram @cncsacramento to stay up to date on all the exciting things we have planned!