City Nature Challenge 2024

Join Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas Inc. for City Nature Challenge 2024, CNC YXE 2024, and let’s shine a spotlight on the natural wonders of the Saskatoon area! From April 26 to April 29, 2024, use the free smartphone app iNaturalist to capture sound recordings and images of plants, animals, insects, and mushrooms. Saskatoon is vying for the prestigious title of the most biodiverse city, and we need your enthusiastic participation! Did you know you can observe organisms and record them on the free iNaturalist app anywhere in Saskatoon and area? The bus stop, at a soccer game, along a sidewalk hike, on a dog walk, or even at one of the scheduled events.

The challenge unfolds in two stages:

April 26 to April 29, 2024: Snap pictures of wild plants and animals. (sound recordings too)
April 30 to May 5, 2024: Identify the discovered species.
Results will be unveiled on Monday, May 6, 2024.

Check out the Scheduled Saskatoon Events! Where are these forests in Saskatoon? Come discover them!

NatureQuest: Unveiling Biodiversity at Richard St. Barbe Afforestation Area Fri, Apr 26, 2024 7:00 PM – 8:30 PM CST

Saskatoon Safari: Genereux Park Exploration Sat, Apr 27, 2024 2:00 PM – 3:30 PM CST

Nature Unveiled: Richard St. Barbe Revelry Sun, Apr 28, 2024 2:00 PM – 3:30 PM CST

Nature Unveiled: Biodiversity Quest at George Genereux Park Mon, Apr 29, 2024 7:00 PM – 8:30 PM CST

Curious about what it entails?
Check out our YouTube tutorial on finding biodiversity; it could be any plant, animal, or sign of life in your city. Record the audio or Snap a picture with your smartphone and share your observations through iNaturalist or your city’s chosen platform.

Signs of life observations are accepted, too – things that were once living or represent something that is living, leaving remnants like feathers, fur tufts, roadkill, bones, skeletons, partial skeletons, snake skins, teeth, insect prey in a spider web, spider webs, owl pellets, castings, turkey vulture or waterfowl regurgitation, insect frass or animal scat (poop), bird or animal tracks, an empty or full chrysalis or cocoon, and more.

Find it, Snap it, Share it.

It will be a time to see which city could get the most people involved, which city finds the highest diversity in types of species, and finally, which city gets the most photographs and sound recordings on iNaturalist.

It’s a fun challenge to take action on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 15 Life on Land and United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 14 Life Under Water. Documenting species at risk, engaging in early detection and rapid response for invasive species, and to document biodiversity which indicates to scientists species expansions and declines worldwide, and any changes in their habitat range helping to enrich knowledge for the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 11 Sustainable Cities and Communities.

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