Diario del proyecto City Nature Challenge 2024: New York City

New York City crossed the one million verifiable observations mark this afternoon!

Was I sitting here all morning refreshing the Explore page waiting for this exciting milestone? Yes, yes I was. Fun fact: about 9.3% of those NYC observations are from the City Nature Challenge. Way to go, CNC observers!

Congrats to NYC's top observer, @susanhewitt, top species finder, @zihaowang, and top identifier, @nycnatureobserver! And a big THANK YOU to everyone who has made observations and identifications in New York City! 🎉🎉🎉

The City Nature Challenge: New York City takes place in Lenapehoking, the ancestral, unceded lands of the Lenape people. Lenapehoking includes parts of what are now known as New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and Delaware. We want to acknowledge and pay respect to Lenape elders, past and present. This land has great significance to the Lenape people who were forced to leave it by European colonists, and we must recognize this fact as we explore the nature of what is now called New York City. The Lenape were the original stewards of this land and its many different habitats. There are only a few spaces left that resemble what this area was like before colonization and we encourage you to be respectful in these spaces and all places in the city. We ask that you be thoughtful when you are out on this land and realize that settler colonialism has deeply changed this landscape from what it once was and also realize that the Lenape people and many other Indigenous peoples remain a vibrant part of this city. We hope that your nature observations in Lenapehoking inspire you to take action and seek out more information about the Lenape people and culture. Here are some places to start:

The Lenape Center website features a list of works highlighting Lenape culture.

"Home in Lenapehoking" - An interview of Joe Baker and Hadrien Coumans, co-founders of The Lenape Center, in Urban Omnibus.

"In New York City, centuries worth of Indigenous history is being uncovered through art, stories and community." - From CBC Radio's Unreserved with Rosanna Deerchild episode ,"Unmapped: New York," which aired on January 26, 2024. The full episode is linked in the article.

We're 32 days away from the start of CNC:NYC! While we get ready, let's go over the "rules" for making observations for this project. Our project is set up so that ALL observations made within the five boroughs of NYC during the four days of CNC will be automatically collected together, including any observations iNaturalist classifies as "casual." Casual observations in this project will include those with no photo/sound (evidence of organism) and those that are marked "captive/cultivated." If you do observe an organism that is captive or cultivated, please mark it as such when you're uploading the observation.

We do not want to completely exclude causal observations from the project for a few reasons. For example, street trees are an important part of our urban forest and are likely some of the most visible non-human species in the city, but those were placed where they are by humans. However, we also want to be good stewards of the iNaturalist database, which is a resource for many people and whose focus is on the wild organisms not supported directly by humans. Here are some rules for what is good to observe for CNC in New York City (spoiler alert: they're all the same basic rule):

1. Try to keep it wild. iNaturalist is primarily for your encounters with wild organisms, not ones cared for, held captive by, or planted by humans.
2. Avoid the three P's. To help you remember what is not appropriate for an observation, think of the the P's: do not post observations of people, potted plants, or pets.
3. Absolutely no zoo animals. Not only do these fall under the not wild category, but abundant posts of zoo animals lead to a really inaccurate species list on our project page.

The CNC is one month away and we have some great events lined up before it starts so you can be ready for the challenge! Three of these are online, two are in-person, and two of the online ones are hosted by other cities. I have converted all the times to be EDT. Click here to skip down to the three NYC-specific events. The first is a CNC:NYC webinar that will help you get started on iNat and on your way to making great observations and the other two are in-person info tables you can visit to find out more about CNC:NYC.


April 11, 2024 - Adding aquatic macroinvertebrates to iNaturalist (ONLINE)
Time: 1p-2p EDT
Location: Zoom
Host: MacroBlitz
Description: Learn tips to collect, photograph, upload and annotate your aquatic macroinvertebrate observations.
Register via Zoom: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEvce2uqD8iE9dEWf36PBiYO9Aq3ZRO4w69#/registration


April 17, 2024 - City Nature Challenge: NYC - Getting Started on iNaturalist Webinar (ONLINE)
Time: 6p-7p
Location: Zoom
Host: Macaulay Honors College
Description: Join us to learn the ins and outs of using iNaturalist and making good nature observations that others in the iNat community can identify.
Register via Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/4117066340556/WN_Lyt8EDGhQcWXVhBmWxQPkg#/registration


April 19-29, 2024 - APEC CNC Info Table (IN-PERSON)
Time: 9a-4:30p
Location: Alley Pond Environmental Center: 229-10 Northern Blvd., Douglaston, NY 11362
Host: Alley Pond Environmental Center
Description: Visit APEC to learn more about the City Nature Challenge. We'll have an info table in our lobby for any visitors to learn about the event and join in! There won't be someone posted at the table, but APEC staff can answer your questions.
Registration: None


April 20, 2024 - EQA Earth Day Celebration (IN-PERSON)
Time: 9a-4p, activities all day
Location: Idlewild Park, Queens
Host: Eastern Queens Alliance
Description: From yoga, to park clean-up, to interactive workshops to, hands-on demonstrations and activities, our Earth Day celebration has something for everyone. You'll have the opportunity to connect with like-minded individuals, learn about sustainability practices, and have fun in a beautiful outdoor setting.
Registration: Required via Google Forms. Click here to register.


April 26, 2024 - iNaturalist: When You Want to Know "What's that Flower/Bird/Bug (and More!)" (ONLINE)
Time: 2:30p-3:30p EDT
Location: Zoom
Host: University Libraries at the UMass Amherst
Description: An introduction to taking and uploading iNat observations in both the app and the web browser with some more info about how to make IDs.
Registration: https://libcal.library.umass.edu/event/12169911