City Nature Challenge

Yes. Anyone with an iNaturalist account can participate. iNaturalist recommends that young persons be at least 14 years of age to have individual accounts, but participants younger than 14 can participate using a parent’s or teacher’s account.

There are no direct costs to participate. There may be small indirect costs in gas or entrance fees to reach your desired observation site, but you can also participate in your own back yard or a local park for free. There is no cost to participate in the identification phase or any events.

No, you don’t need to register with the Brazos Valley CNC to participate. You do need to register for an iNaturalist account. Any observations that you make during the project period within the project boundaries will automatically be captured by the project.

There will be a free iNaturalist training at Lick Creek Park at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, April 11. There is a free night insect black-lighting party at Lick Creek Park from 8-11 p.m. on Friday, April 25, to collect observations. There will be free identification parties at Lick Creek Park from 1-4 p.m. on Tuesday, April 29, and 4-8 p.m. on Wednesday, April 30. Please bring your own laptop for the identification parties. The Nature Center has public Wifi.

You can also come to the Gary Halter Nature Center from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. during the City Nature Challenge to learn more and get a quick training from our trained staff!

Anyone who contributes 50 or more observations to the Brazos Valley CNC can receive a free CNC tote bag and patches while supplies last. These can be picked up at Lick Creek Park at any time during the CNC period during the operating hours of the Gary Halter Nature Center. Special commemorative stickers, patches and tote bags will be available throughout the weekend while supplies last.

The object of the CNC is to document the wild flora and fauna in our urban environment. We are not looking for captive animals (zoo animals, pets) or cultivated plants (garden, house plants).

The line is blurry. Use your best judgement. Some clues: If it is dependent upon humans for food or water, it is not wild. So, animals on display in a zoo, pets in a home, plants in a garden are not wild. If there is a decorative border around the organism, or a watering line, it’s probably not wild. But, you can find wild animals and plants in a park or a zoo. Think insects at the flowers, birds in the trees. Animals attracted to bird feeders or butterfly gardens are not dependent upon the feeders. If you took those feeders or gardens away, those birds or butterflies would survive just as well without them. Animals recently captive that were formerly wild also count. Think fish on a line, whether to be returned to the river or taken home for dinner, or a beetle caught and held briefly for an iNaturalist record.