When:
April 26 – 29, 2024
Where:
Lost River Cave & South Central Kentucky Region
What:
Calling all citizen scientists! Join us April 26–29 as Bowling Green and the surrounding counties in South Central Kentucky participate in our first City Nature Challenge. The City Nature Challenge is one of the largest community-science events in the world. Your participation will contribute to local and global science. Join our iNaturalist Project to keep track of our region’s observations.
Here’s how the City Nature Challenge works:
From April 26-29, take a photo of any plant or animal and create an observation in the iNaturalist app (if you’re new to iNaturalist, visit the getting started page). Be sure to include a location on every observation. During the City Nature Challenge, any observation recorded in South Central Kentucky (including Allen, Barren, Butler, Edmonson, Hart, Logan, Simpson, and Warren counties) will be automatically added to the Bowling Green and South Central Kentucky City Nature Challenge project.
Whether your observations are made in your backyard, at a local park, or even in a grocery store parking lot, your participation makes a difference! It’s okay if you don’t know what you’re photographing. Do your best to narrow down the type of plant or animal by including what you can, such as “bird,” “plant,” or “spider.” Other iNaturalist users will help you identify the species.
Help Bowling Green and South Central Kentucky:
More than 450 cities are participating in this global BioBlitz, including four Kentucky cities (Bowling Green, Frankfort, Lexington, Louisville). If you’d like to keep track of our state’s progress, you can join the Kentucky umbrella project: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/kentucky-city-nature-challenge-2024-cities
If you’re looking for fun opportunities to explore nature with others, check out these local events during the City Nature Challenge:
Meadow Restoration BioBlitz at Lost River Cave
Hosted by Lost River Cave and the Wild Ones Southern Kentucky Chapter
Saturday, April 27, 8 am–noon
2818 Nashville Rd
Bowling Green, KY 42101
Nature Hike with the Wild Ones Southern Kentucky Chapter
Sunday, April 28, 2–4 pm
Location TBD
Like to be social? Use the hashtags #citynaturechallengeBGKY and #BGKYnature or #SOKYnature when you promote the project or share your observations.
The Bowling Green and South Central Kentucky City Nature Challenge is organized by the Wild Ones Southern Kentucky Chapter and Lost River Cave.
Would you or your organization like to be involved in the City Nature Challenge? Reach out to [email protected] to learn more about the organizing committee. If you’re aware of local nature events, please share the details and we’ll add them to our list.
About Wild Ones SoKY Chapter:
Wild Ones is connecting people and native plants for a healthy planet. Lost River Cave is an affiliate member of Wild Ones and partners together on the park’s Meadow Restoration Project through three annual BioBlitz events. Local chapter meetings are also held inside the River Birch Room most months of the year on the 2nd Thursday of each month. An exact calendar of events, plant sales, adventures, and membership information can be found on their website or Facebook page. All are encouraged to attend.
You can also contact Wild Ones at [email protected] if you have any questions.
