Join our iNaturalist Team: Northern Ohio Team for the 2026 City Nature Challenge.
Our region will once again participate in the City Nature Challenge. The observation period is from April 24-27, 2026. And the identification process will take place from April 28 - May 10, 2026. Final results will be announced on Monday May 13, 2026.
What is City Nature Challenge?
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.
Now in its 10th year, City Nature Challenge is pushing for quality over quantity. Participants are encouraged to log any WILD plant, animal, or any evidence of life found in your city. (Wild means that it wasn’t put there, and is not being taken care of by people.) Take a picture or record a sound of what you find. Be sure to note the location of the critter or plant. And finally, share your observations through iNaturalist or your city's chosen platform.