
City Nature Challenge 2022, April 29 - May 2
Started in 2016 as a competition between San Francisco and Los Angeles, the City Nature Challenge (CNC) has grown into an international event, motivating people around the world to find and document wildlife in and around their cities, using biodiversity recording apps and platforms like iNaturalist. Run by the Community Science teams at the California Academy of Sciences and the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, the CNC is an annual four-day global urban bioblitz at the end of April, where cities are in a collaboration-meets-friendly-competition to see not only what can be accomplished when we all work toward a common goal, but also which city can gather the most observations of nature, find the most species, and engage the most people in the event. The 2022 City Nature Challenge is gearing up to be the biggest one yet!
Participating is easy: just use iNaturalist to make and share observations of wild plants and animals in any of the nine Bay Area counties between April 29 and May 2, 2022. Be sure to check back here as well for information about City Nature Challenge events happening throughout the Bay Area.
Bay Area CNC Events
Join an event for the City Nature Challenge to learn more our local species, get hands-on help using iNaturalist, and meet other people interested in nature! Be sure to click on the links to learn more and to register if needed. All events are in-person unless noted and will be hosted in English unless noted.
Pre-CNC Events
- April 26, 4-5PM: Virtual event on Zoom | How to Bioblitz: How to Use Technology to Better Understand Nature | Hosted by Candlestick Point State Recreation Area
- April 28, 4-5PM: Virtual event on Zoom | How to Bioblitz: How to Use Technology to Better Understand Nature | Hosted by Candlestick Point State Recreation Area
Friday, April 29
- San Francisco 9AM-1PM: Mount Davidson Bioblitz | Hosted by California Native Plant Society, Yerba Buena Chapter
- Healdsburg 10AM-12PM: Riverfront Regional Park Bioblitz | Hosted by Sonoma County Regional Parks
- Berkeley 2-5PM: UC Berkeley Bioblitz in English & Spanish | Hosted by Wholly H2O
Saturday, April 30
- Pacifica 9AM-12PM: Devil's Slide Trail Bioblitz | Hosted by San Mateo County Parks, Sequoia Audubon, California Lichen Society, & California Academy of Sciences
- South San Jose 9AM-12PM: Laguna Seca / North Coyote Valley Conservation Area Bioblitz | Hosted by BioBlitz Club & Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society
- Fairfax 9:30-11:30AM: Marinda Heights Bioblitz | Hosted by Fairfax Open Space Committee
- Sebastopol 10AM-12PM: Ragle Ranch Regional Park Bioblitz | Hosted by Sonoma County Regional Parks
- Albany 10AM-1PM: Albany Bulb Bioblitz in English & Spanish | Hosted by Wholly H2O
- Santa Rosa 10AM-1PM: Pepperwood Preserve Bioblitz & Family Walk | Hosted by Pepperwood
- Kenwood 9-11:30AM: Sugarloaf Ridge State Park Bioblitz & introduction to iNaturalist in Spanish | Hosted by Sonoma Ecology Center & Sugarloaf Ridge State Park
- Kenwood 9:30AM-12:30PM: Sugarloaf Ridge State Park Bioblitz Introductory Hike | Hosted by Sonoma Ecology Center & Sugarloaf Ridge State Park
- Kenwood 10AM-12PM: Sugarloaf Ridge State Park Flora Walk | Hosted by Sonoma Ecology Center & Sugarloaf Ridge State Park
- Redwood City 10AM-1PM: Stulsaft Park Bioblitz | Hosted by Grassroots Ecology
Sunday, May 1
- San Francisco 9-11AM: Candlestick Point State Recreation Area Bioblitz | Hosted by Candlestick Point State Recreation Area
- San Francisco 10AM-1PM: Lands End Nature Exploration Walk (accessible trail) in Spanish & English | Hosted by Latino Outdoors SF Bay Area
- San Jose 9-11AM: Alum Rock Park Bioblitz | Hosted by BioBlitz Club & Keep Coyote Creek Beautiful
- Glen Ellen 10AM-12PM: Sonoma Valley Regional Park Bioblitz | Hosted by Sonoma County Regional Parks
- Kenwood 10AM-12PM: Sugarloaf Ridge State Park Habitat Hike | Hosted by Sonoma Ecology Center & Sugarloaf Ridge State Park
- Oakland 1-7PM: May Day MicroBlitz | Hosted by Super Good Labs
Monday, May 2
- Half Moon Bay 6:30-9:30AM: Pillar Point Tidepools Bioblitz | Hosted by California Academy of Sciences
City Nature Challenge 2021 Results
For the first time, the annual City Nature Challenge—one of the world’s largest community science events—recorded over 1 million wildlife observations! Over 400 cities participated, with more than 52,000 people making more than 1.2 million observations of nature in the four days of the challenge. Every observation made during the 4-day event, co-founded by the Academy, contributes important data to monitor and protect our planet’s biodiversity. Read the press release for more highlights.

More than 2,200 Bay Area residents racked up 32,100+ observations in 2021. The most-observed species? You guessed it: the California poppy (Eschscholzia californica). Other highlights include:
- a stunningly patterned long-nosed snake
- a stern gaze from a great horned owl
- the vulnerable and endemic Oakland mariposa lily
- a prowling mountain lion caught on a camera trap
- an otherworldly opalescent nudibranch
- and a decaying endangered fin whale recently necropsied by the California Academy of Sciences and The Marine Mammal Center
Long-nosed snake photo © Tony Iwane
Special thanks to our partners
From getting the word out to hosting events, the Academy's Bay Area partners make City Nature Challenge the inspiring, empowering, and fun 4-day nature bioblitz that it is—and we are incredibly grateful. Click the links below to learn more about each group.
California Native Plant Society | California Lichen Society | Latino Outdoors | California State Parks: Candlestick Point SRA | Bay Nature | San Francisco Department of the Environment | Nature in the City | Presidio Trust | Golden Gate Audubon Society | California Native Plant Society Yerba Buena Chapter | Sutro Stewards | Golden Gate National Recreation Area | San Mateo County Parks | Sequoia Audubon Society | Bioblitz.club | East Bay Regional Parks | California Center for Natural History | Community for Lake Merritt | Oakland Zoo | Oakland Museum of California | Wholly H2o | One Tam | Marin Municipal Water District | Marin County Parks | Sonoma Ecology Center | Sonoma County Parks | Pepperwood Preserve | Napa County RCD | Saved by Nature | Keep Coyote Creek Beautiful | Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society | Grassroots Ecology
Additional resources
Explore, observe, and document the plants and animals around you—even inside your house!
You don't need to venture too far from home to find exciting and surprising creatures! Download this PDF to get started.
Download this PDF and see if you can find all 25 of these commonly observed Bay Area (plant and animal) neighbors.
Don't have iNat yet? Download the app today and discover how fun (and easy) it is to document biodiversity in your neighborhood.
Have questions about the City Nature Challenge? Visit our Frequently Asked Questions page to find some answers!
The work we do utilizes iNaturalist to make biodiversity observations while building community around nature. It's a community-powered website and app that makes it easy to upload and share your observations in the field and to get help from other users with flora and fauna IDs.
Have questions about our community science programs? Want to get involved? Email us at communityscience@calacademy.org.
The Academy community science team is Rebecca Johnson and Alison Young