Cities around the world will compete on April 24 – 27, 2020 to see which urban area has the most nature and the most engaged residents! The City Nature Challenge is a global, multi-day BioBlitz focused on urban areas and their surroundings that seeks to engage people with nature in the places where we live, work, and play. We’re expecting participation from more than 150 cities around the world including 7 metro areas here in Texas: Amarillo, Austin, Dallas/Fort Worth, El Paso, Houston-Galveston, Lower Rio Grande Valley, and San Antonio.
If you live in or around one of these areas, show the world just how much nature we have here in Texas! It’s easy to participate by joining an event or making observations on your own using the iNaturalist app. Take a picture of a wild animal, plant, or fungi, upload it to iNaturalist, and the online community will help you accurately identify the species. We will also need help April 28-May 3, 2020 with identifications on iNaturalist, so no matter where you are in the world, you can share your Texas nature knowledge to help make this project a success.
In addition to engaging a variety of partners - agencies, non-profits, volunteer groups, local municipalities, schools, and many others - the data generated from this event will help researchers, land managers, and policy makers working in some of the most rapidly changing landscapes in North America, so please participate!
To see what we found in the 2019 City Nature Challenge, visit www.tpwd.texas.gov/naturechallenge to find links to the 2019 Texas projects and summaries. As we get closer to the event, we’ll update the page with links and resources for the 2020 City Nature Challenge. You can also contact the Texas Nature Trackers Biologists Tania Homayoun (tania.homayoun@tpwd.texas.gov) and Craig Hensley (craig.hensley@tpwd.texas.gov) with any questions. Let’s find some nature!
The City Nature Challenge is organized on a global scale by the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and the California Academy of Sciences.
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