Apr 15, 2021
OTTAWA, April 15 2021 - A coalition of 23 Canadian cities lead by the Canadian Wildlife Federation (CWF) have signed on to participate in the 2021 City Nature Challenge (CNC) event, part of a friendly international collaboration designed to connect people to nature while taking an inventory of wildlife species around the globe. Over 440 cities from 44 countries are registered to participate in this year’s event, which encourages use of the free iNaturalist app to track species observations that become part of an international database of biodiversity.
“We live in a big country and scientists can’t be everywhere,” said James Pagé, Species at Risk and Biodiversity Specialist with CWF. “During the CNC and year-round individuals can be the scientist by contributing valuable observations for biodiversity research and conservation. Using smartphones and digital cameras as tools, iNaturalist helps us connect with nature while helping to conserve it.”
With contributions from partners and volunteers in each Canadian city CWF has established a CNC Canada umbrella project page on iNaturalist.ca that automatically adds participants’ observations in each city. While Canadian cities will compete against each other to see which one can engage the most people and accumulate the highest number of observations, the collective number will represent Canada’s total in the international competition. Last year 41,000 people in 244 cities participated, registering over 815,000 observations of 32,000 different species that included more than 1,300 rare or endangered species.
“The CNC gives us a great reason to get out this spring and connect with the species and spaces just outside our door while at the same time providing valuable information for conservation,” said Pagé."
“Everyone should check out the project page at iNaturalist.ca/projects to find out which cities are participating, and even if a city isn’t taking part, people everywhere can contribute by helping out online to identify what’s being found”.
The City Nature Challenge was established by the California Academy of Sciences and Natural Museum of Los Angeles. This year’s event runs in two parts: recording observations from April 30th to May 3rd and identifying observations April 30th through May 9th.
With heightened pandemic measures taking place in many areas of the country, please explore safely. Nature can still be found close to home: along roadsides, local wetlands or ponds, at birdfeeders and along walking paths. If movement is restricted in your area, consider exploring in your yard, neighbourhood, local hiking/walking spots, parks and in family bubbles.
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RELATED LINKS:
City Nature Challenge >
Canadian Wildlife Federation CNC Information Page >
City Nature Challenge Canada iNaturalist Project Page >
About the Canadian Wildlife Federation:
The Canadian Wildlife Federation is a national, not-for-profit charitable organization dedicated to fostering awareness and appreciation of our natural world. By spreading knowledge of human impacts on the environment, carrying out research, developing and delivering education programs, promoting the sustainable use of natural resources, recommending changes to policy and co-operating with like-minded partners, CWF encourages a future in which Canadians can live in harmony with nature. For more information visit CanadianWildlifeFederation.ca.
About the City Nature Challenge:
Started in 2016 for the first-ever Citizen Science Day, the teams at Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and California Academy of Sciences dreamed up the City Nature Challenge as a fun way to capitalize on their home cities’ friendly rivalry. In 2017 the City Nature Challenge went national and in 2018 it became an international event.
Contacts:
David DeRocco
Sr. Manager, Marketing and Events
davidd@cwf-fcf.org
(613) 599-9594 x 279
James Pagé
Species at Risk and Biodiversity Specialist
jamesp@cwf-fcf.org
(613) 599-9594 x 263
CANADIAN CITIES PARTICPATING:
- British Columbia: Kamloops / Richmond / Surrey
- Alberta: Calgary Metropolitan Region / Camrose / Edmonton metro area / Lethbridge / Red Deer
- Saskatchewan: Regina
- Manitoba: Winnipeg
- Ontario: Cambridge / Hamilton / Mississauga / St. Catharines / Toronto / Ottawa-Gatineau
- New Brunswick: Fredericton / Moncton / St. Andrews/St. Stephen
- Nova Scotia: Cape Breton Regional Municipality / Halifax Regional Municipality / The Annapolis Valley
- PEI: Charlottetown
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