City nature Challenge 2021 Wrap-up

April 30 through May 3, 2021 the Arizona Master Naturalists participated in the City Nature Challenge where community members documented plant and animal species using the app iNaturalist. The City Nature Challenge is a global project and 1,270,767 observations were made this year. Over 45,300 species were identified and more than 2,100 rare, endangered, and threatened species were observed. Over 52,777 observers participated in the event while enjoying the outdoors as volunteer community scientists.

Here in Tucson about 200 people participated in the event! Over 2,500 observations were made and included over 640 species. Our most common observations included:

• Saguaro, 35 observations
• Fish hook barrel cactus, 28 observations
• Creosote bush, 24 observations
• Desert spiny lizard, 24 observations
• Common slider, 23 observations

Our top Observers included usernames:

• Direwolfplayz – 335 observations of 70 species
• JMarvin – 164 observations of 126 species
• Roomthily – 139 observations of 71 species

The locations in which observations were made could reflect where accessible natural spaces exist in our city. Tucson is located at the base of surrounding mountains and is famous for being surrounded by parks and trail systems. By looking at the City Nature Challenge’s interactive map we can see that participants were able to make observations both within our parks and our urban environment!

Check out what observations were made by visiting the Tucson City Nature Challenge Website.

Thank you to everyone who participated and enjoyed the outdoors while celebrating community science month, and special thanks to our community members that helped coordinate this event!