From April 24 through April 27, 2026, find and photograph plants, animals, fungi, and any other wildlife anywhere in Shasta County using the iNaturalist app to contribute to the City Nature Challenge.
The City Nature Challenge is an annual four-day international bioblitz that invites people around the world to document wildlife in their neighborhoods using biodiversity recording platforms such as iNaturalist. Participants explore backyards, cities, parks, trails, and public lands to record as many species as possible, contributing valuable data that helps scientists and communities better understand and protect nature globally. What began in 2016 as a friendly competition between the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and the California Academy of Sciences has since grown into a collaborative international event in which cities both compete and work together to find species, collect observations, and strengthen community connections to nature.
This is the second year that Shasta County will be participating in the City Nature Challenge. Observations are made and submitted by using the user-friendly app and platform iNaturalist. Any iNaturalist observations that are made within Shasta County during the Challenge timeframe will automatically be added to Shasta County’s City Nature Challenge Project and contribute to our overall species observations and number of participants. Participate on your own or find an event* on the Shasta County’s City Nature Challenge Project page.
~Alicia Herrera, Point Blue Conservation Science Ecologist
*Heads up! Shasta Environmental Alliance is organizing a bioblitz in the Whiskeytown area for the morning of Sunday, April 26, 2026. Details to come—stay tuned!