Last updated: June 1, 2020
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Community Science Update: 2020 San Francisco Bay Area City Nature Challenge Recap
© drosenfeld / Photo 69312434 / 04-24-2020 / iNaturalist.org / CC BY-NC
May 2020 - 2020 looked a little different for the City Nature Challenge, an annual community science event. The event encourages urban areas around the world to turn out the greatest number of naturalists, make the most nature observations, and find the most species. National Park Service partner One Tam collaborates with the California Academy of Sciences and other organizations as part of the San Francisco Bay Area City Nature Challenge.
In previous years, people have traveled to parks to find nature and make observations. But given local shelter-in-place restrictions, organizers decided on a different strategy. They encouraged people to document species right around their homes and backyards. They were optimistic that this shift might provide a unique snapshot of critters and plants in more residential areas.
Fortunately, that's just what happened! Observation patterns skewed heavily toward residential areas this year. And despite the unique circumstances, participation actually went up! Worldwide, about 100 additional cities participated. In the Bay Area, 2,625 people submitted observations, almost 500 more than last year. Marin County saw nearly identical participation compared to 2019. About 300 participants identified at least 1,021 different local species. It seems people welcomed the invitation to explore nature all around them!