Every year on the last weekend in April, the Greater Phoenix Area participates in the City Nature Challenge. This is a global effort to observe and document as much urban biodiversity as possible while engaging in community science. Using a free app called iNaturalist, anyone can get involved and share observations, anywhere from neighborhoods to local parks.

This is the fourth year the Greater Phoenix Area will participate in the challenge and is co-  organized by Educating Children Outdoors (ECO), Barrett Honors College, Central Arizona Conservation Alliance, Maricopa County Library, Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College, Scistarter, ASU New College,  and Maricopa County Master Naturalists.   What is the CNC?  The City Nature Challenge (CNC) was created by the California Academy of Sciences and the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. The event started as a friendly competition between two cities but quickly grew into an international event with over 200 countries participating in the most recent challenge. The CNC is a unique event that serves to connect people to their local nature in urban or metro areas worldwide. The hope of the event is to grow volunteer community science documentation while collecting urban biodiversity data that are available to managers and scientists but most importantly have fun while spending time outside!

Visit the website for more details and FAQs.