Silver City Watershed Keepers will be organizing a City Nature Challenge in Silver City and broader Grant County area from April 25-28, 2025! The City Nature Challenge (CNC) is an annual bioblitz event, with citizen scientists from around the world working to record as many species as possible during a four day challenge. 2025 marks the 10th anniversary of this international event, with a theme of “Bringing the World Together for Biodiversity.” Last year, CNC participants recorded nearly 2.5 million observations of plants, fungi, and animals in their local areas. Over 65,000 species (including 3,900 rare/endangered/threatened species) were observed and over 83,000 people have participated.
Why is this event important? We believe that it is critical for members of our community to know the wildlife that also calls our watershed home. The CNC emphasizes the role that towns and cities play in affecting biodiversity and invites people of all ages and abilities to explore nature in their back yards, city parks, and beyond! Observations made during the CNC will all be publicly available on the iNaturalist database and app. These observations can be viewed by other people in our community, used in schools for biology lessons, utilized by local governments and conservation organizations to monitor invasive species or ecosystem health, and employed by scientists to define shifting species’ ranges, migration corridors, or relationships (e.g. plant-pollinator interactions).
Tentative Schedule of Events
- April 19: iNaturalist training – Learn how to use iNaturalist and the differences between “good” and “bad” observations
- April 25: “Wild Silver City” – guided walk around Silver City with a focus on the wild plants and animals that love to live alongside humans in built environments
- April 26: “Life on the Trail” – guided hikes along Silver City’s trail systems in Boston Hill.
- April 27: “Birds and Bees” – walk through Silva Creek Botanical Garden and Waterworks with a focus on pollinators and native plants
- April 28: “Riparian Life” – hike along San Vicente Creek, with a focus on aquatic and riparian species. Hikes led by Dr. Gregor Hamilton from The Nature Conservancy
Check back for additional details from program partners!
There are several ways to get involved. If you are interested in participating in the Nature Challenge, collaborating or co-hosting an event, or becoming an event sponsor, click the links below for more information!
