Chicago's motto "Urbs in Horto" means "City in a Garden". Let's show the rest of the country how much amazing nature there is in our great city! Chicago is one of 16 cities participating in the City Nature Challenge 2017 (April 14 to April 18, 2017), a friendly competition to see which city can document the most nature using the iNaturalist app.
Participating is easy. All you have to do is:
1. Download the free iNaturalist app to your mobile device (available for Android and iPhone)
2. During April 14-18, take photos to make observations of plants and animals in your neighborhood, a park, your walk to school or work, alleys, downtown - anywhere you find nature
3. Upload your photos to iNaturalist
4. Learn more as the iNaturalist community helps identify your observations.
You don't even need to know the name of the plant, animal, or fungi you photograph. The iNaturalist community will help you identify it! Any observations made in Cook County and uploaded to iNaturalist between April 14 and 18 will be added to Chicago’s total!
The Nature Museum will be hosting a kick-off CNC event at the Nature Museum on April 14 at 10am. RSVP here http://naturemuseum.org/oforms/city-nature-challenge-rsvp
Habitat 2030 is hosting a public event at Jackson Park on Saturday, April 15, 11:30am-3:00pm https://www.facebook.com/events/1841379792788544/?active_tab=about
Numerous other partner organizations will be contributing to CNC Chicago between April 14 and 18 by incorporating iNaturalist into existing events and programs, but you can also participate on your own by uploading your observations to iNaturalist.
Interested in hosting a CNC event or incorporating into an existing program or event? contact dbild@naturemuseum.org
(iNaturalist is a free app available on the app store https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/inaturalist/id421397028?mt=8 and Google Play https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.inaturalist.android)