Calling All Citizen Scientists!
Frazer Center is once again partnering with our neighbor Fernbank to help put Atlanta on the geo-map. And we can’t do it without YOU.
What began as a friendly competition between San Francisco and Los Angeles to celebrate the first ever Citizen Scientist Day has blossomed into a global event involving nearly 250 cities.
Fernbank is leading Atlanta’s participation for the fourth year in a row, partnering with multiple organizations across the city, including Trees Atlanta, Olmsted Linear Park Alliance, Piedmont Park Conservancy, and the Frazer Center.
The mission of the contest is to connect city residents to their local nature, and to collect urban biodiversity data and make it available for science, management, and conservation purposes.
The object of the City Nature Challenge is to see which city can:
- Make the most observations;
- Find the most species;
- Engage the most people.
Atlanta’s numbers increase every year, and we hope YOU will help keep that trend going!
How can you play? It’s easy! During the dates of the City Nature Challenge, April 29–May 2:
- Go outside!
- Observe wildlife—plants, animals, and fungi;
- Photograph it using a smartphone;
- Upload photos to the free iNaturalist app.
And that’s it! There’s no cost, there’s no registration. You don’t even have to know what it is you are observing. The iNaturalist app helps identify species, and experts using the app help confirm.
Observations can be made anywhere in the city, even in your own back yard or along a city sidewalk. We think Frazer Forest makes a great place to participate, and your observations will help us learn more about the biodiversity within our neighborhood old-growth forest.
The 2022 Atlanta City Nature Challenge makes for a great family or school project that is also pandemic-friendly. Put on your citizen scientist cap, show your Atlanta pride, get the iNaturalist app, and find some nature!
HELPFUL LINKS:
MORE INFO about the international City Nature Challenge
MORE INFO about Atlanta City Nature Challenge led locally by FERNBANK
