What is the City Nature Challenge?
The City Nature Challenge is a collaborative international bioblitz that started in 2016 as a competition between Los Angeles and San Francisco. The objective for the challenge is to motivate people in their surrounding area to get outside and document wildlife and general biodiversity. In 2017, the City Nature Challenge went
national, and one year later, became a world-wide event.
City Nature Challenge 2021 Results
Five years later, The City Nature Challenge has amassed more than 1 million users in 419 cities around the world. In a record breaking year, over 52,000 people participated contributing to over 45,300 species documented, including over 2,100 rare or endangered species observations. This year in the Sacramento region, there were 8,363 observations, over 1,500 species, and nearly 600 observers. Despite challenging times, participants from all over the Greater Sacramento region garnered impressive observations.
City Nature Challenge and Citizen Science
The City Nature Challenge is an excellent opportunity for community stakeholders to learn about nature surrounding them, and through documentation with iNaturalist, can even assist in studies to protect local biodiversity. The City Nature Challenge also works to promote environmental education, and is being adapted by school educators for lessons and activities on biodiversity and nature immersion.
