City Nature Challenge 2025
Join us for the City Nature Challenge, an international effort for people to find and document plants and wildlife in cities across the globe. It’s a bioblitz-style competition where cities compete to see who can make the most observations of nature, who can find the most species, and who can engage the most people.
The City Nature Challenge is an international effort to document the living world around us that will be taking place from April 24 through May 3. To get started, download iNaturalist for iPhone or Android and follow the prompts in-app to complete your account. You may want to read this guide for getting started. The CNC takes place in two phases, an observation phase and an identification phase:
Observation Phase (April 24 - April 27): Get outside and observe wild organisms around you! Take photos or record sounds of plants, animals, fungi, etc. (just not domesticated animals!). All observations within the 16-county greater Chattanooga region will automatically roll up to our project. Join our area-wide iNat project to see what’s been observed!
Identification Phase (April 28 - May 3): Help identify what was found. Use your expertise to identify organisms to species (or genus, if unclear).
Join us for free, guided activities to document life across our city:
Saturday, April 25
9:00am to 10:00am - Winged Wisdom: Understanding Birds of Prey with Taylor
9:00am to 9:45am & 10:00am to 10:45am - Fishing with the Tennessee Aquarium
9:00am to 9:45am & 10:00am to 10:45am - Herpetology with the Tennessee Aquarium
11:00am to 3:00pm - Macroinvertebrate Demo with Elaine and Mickey
11:00am to 12:00pm & 1:00pm to 2:00pm - Wild Wonders: A Guided Tour of Our Wildlife Sanctuary
11:00am to 11:45am & 1:00pm to 1:45pm - How to Observe: Plants & Insects with the Tennessee Aquarium
1:00pm to 2:00pm - Owl Odyssey with Taylor
2:00pm to 3:30pm - Woodland Walk with Paul
3:00pm to 4:30pm - Critter Crawl with Kel
Important: Participants must sign the release form below before attending a program on our campus. We can’t wait to observe the natural world with you!
These programs will happen outdoors, so be sure to dress for the weather, wear sturdy shoes, and bring anything you may need to enjoy time outdoors. In the event of severe weather, programs may have to be canceled.