City Nature Challenge

Cities around the world will be competing to see who can make the most observations of nature, find the most species, and engage the most people in the 2020 City Nature Challenge. Citizen Science events like the City Nature Challenge are important sources of information as we look at urban development and its effect on nature. The next City Nature Challenge is April 24-27, 2020 and takes place all across America in thousands of communities. Citizen Scientists of all ages observe nature and species and report their findings. Here at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden, we’ll be making observations and taking photos and uploading them to iNaturalist on April 25-26, 2020 (and you can help too!) Children are welcome to help with a parent.

The 2020 City Nature Challenge takes place in 2 parts

April 24 – 27, 2020
Taking pictures of wild plants and animals.

April 28 –May 3, 2020
Identifying what was found.

Organized by the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco. This is a global challenge to better understand urban biodiversity and to get people outside and see the nature around them.

Event Details

Included with Garden Admission
Meet in the Children’s Garden

Citizen Scientist student takes notes in a garden.

Lilah Monroe, a Glen Allen High School student, observes butterflies for a citizen scientist project.

Citizen Science Fun Facts

Last year 159 cites, including Richmond, participated in this 4-day challenge.
35,000 people participated worldwide
Over 963,000 observations were made
Over 1,100 rare, endangered or threatened species were documented by citizen scientists like you!