PEEC News:
Residents across Northern New Mexico are preparing to join a global community science event with a very local focus: the wildlife in our urban environment.
The City Nature Challenge will happen from April 25 to May 4, with observations of nature taking place April 25 through April 28, and identifications through May 4. Thousands of people from across New Mexico are expected to participate. Their mission: to observe and identify as many species of wild animals, plants, and fungi as they can during the Challenge period – in local parks, neighborhoods, front stoops, and back yards. The Challenge is a fun event that offers a great opportunity to get outdoors. It also has a serious intent: data collected during the Santa Fe Area City Nature Challenge will provide valuable information to scientists on urban wildlife and global biodiversity.
The City Nature Challenge, sometimes called an annual “bioblitz,” started as a friendly competition between two cities in 2016, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Organizers in each city challenged their communities to see who could make the most observations of urban wildlife over one long weekend. Their competition soon attracted interest, and within two years people in over 50 cities were participating. In 2025 residents in over 700 cities on all continents are expected to take part.
Santa Fe Area City Nature Challenge participants will use their cell phone cameras, digital cameras, and the iNaturalist app platform to make observations. iNaturalist is a popular free app supported by the California Academy of Sciences and the National Geographic Society to help citizen scientists make accurate observations of the natural world. Over 3 million people worldwide have shared their observations of biodiversity on iNaturalist.
Audubon Southwest is one of almost a dozen organizations in the region collaborating on the 2025 Santa Fe Area City Nature Challenge. The local planning group includes staff from Audubon Southwest, the Santa Fe Botanical Garden, The Institute of Applied Ecology, the Pajarito Environmental Education Center (PEEC), the New Mexico Wildlife Center, the Native Plant Society of New Mexico, the Xerces Society, Wild Friends Program, and the Northern New Mexico Master Naturalists.
Special events are planned at locations throughout the greater Santa Fe area. In Santa Fe, the Audubon Southwest will host an observation event for all ages at the Randall Davey Audubon Center. In Los Alamos, PEEC will host their 25th Anniversary Plant Walk April 22, 2025. For more information, please visit peecnature.org/events.
Participation in the City Nature Challenge is surprisingly easy. Residents just set up an iNaturalist account and create a “handle.” After learning a few tips for observing, they can start taking pictures and practicing. The website www.citynaturechallengedc.org has a lot of great information about the regional City Nature Challenge and area events.
For questions about participation and media inquiries, contact Michael Carr at cncsantafe@gmail.com. The California Academy of Sciences and the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles organize the global City Nature Challenge. More information can be found at citynaturechallenge.org.