April 12, 2022 –We have a challenge and a great opportunity to document the plants and wildlife in our new nature preserve by participating in a nationwide City Nature Challenge. All you need is your camera or smart phone and a desire to photograph and document the wildlife and plants in our nature preserve or anywhere in our area, including your backyard. The Nature Challenge is a national program supported locally by Pima County Master Naturalists.

This nature project will document wild flora and fauna found in our region April 29th – May 2nd. In order to participate you must download the free iNaturalist app https://www.inaturalist.org/. The website provides ideas and instructions on uploading the photos.

The Nature Challenge started in 2016 as a competition between San Francisco and Los Angeles and has grown into an international event. Communities and counties participate in a friendly competition to see what can be accomplished and which area can gather the most observations.

Jeff Babson, Pima County wildlife viewing specialist, provides a tutorial on the program and on using iNaturalist. Click here to view it; the Passcode is !&D7BAh1

https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/share/OuVuADrYBzIMVJPs9dAvXAPcUNGf5yCqV1qL4GpfOOuQ6biUxrp5Z7-0E7ynqeO3.Q3E1b9Ji04s4fSeL Passcode: !&D7BAh1

Here are additional links to provide more information:

https://pimamasternaturalists.org/ https://citynaturechallenge.org/

We also will provide a zoom information call on Saturday, April 23 at 10 am to answer your questions about our nature challenge. It will be hosted by our neighbors, Gordon Parkhill and Andrew Hogan. Email us at preservevistoso@gmail.com and we will send you the link to the call.

LET’S DO IT!!