City Nature Challenge 2026

Over four days in April from April 24th-27th, you have the opportunity to participate in the 10th City Nature Challenge for New York City. You can get involved wherever you are in NYC. The City Nature Challenge documents the diversity of our urban ecosystems and can help researchers better understand how organisms are adapting as the climate and built environment in our city changes. Use the iNaturalist app to participate.

To sign up for the New York City Nature Challenge, go to https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/city-nature-challenge-2026-new-york-city. Click the “Join” link in the upper right corner of the page. Then start documenting and identifying fungi and other taxa in the city. Make sure your photographs are good quality, well-lit, and in focus. You can take multiple pictures for each observation to highlight all of the features of a particular mushroom—gills, stipe, cap, etc. Try to identify your observations to the closest taxonomic rank that you can. Once you’re signed up, have joined the project, and are posting to iNat, any observations you upload in the city’s five boroughs from April 24 – April 27 will be included in the City Nature Challenge project for New York City.

There are also multiple FREE events all over New York during the four days of the City Nature Challenge. These events are all open to the public, but some do have limited space and require registration ahead of time. If you’d like to take part in a FREE event, we recommend the Van Cortlandt Park City Nature Challenge—Sunday Stewardship Day. The event on Sunday, April 26, 10 AM–1 PM and meets at the VCPA Golfhouse. The event includes a Garlic mustard removal + iNaturalist walkthrough, leaving to walk up by 10:10am.

For a full list of FREE events citywide, go to https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/city-nature-challenge-2024-new-york-city/journal.

There are detailed instructions in the use of iNaturalist here.