Diario del proyecto City Nature Challenge 2019: Western NC

Hello All,

Thanks so much for your participation last year! We're back at it, and we need you! Join our 2020 project here: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/city-nature-challenge-2020-western-nc

See you there!

Team WNC had a terrific first year with a total of 277 participants in every Western N.C. county! We had a total of 5,440 observations made over the four days yielding a total of 1,219 confirmed species identifications.

A few fun facts regarding Team WNC:
The most observed plant species were the mayapple (37), dwarf crested iris (34), Christmas fern (31), wild geranium (29) and large white trillium (29).
The most observed animal species were the Eastern tent caterpillar (22), Eastern tiger swallowtail (18), common five-lined skink (18), and American robin (14).
A total of 144 observations of 64 species that are rare or threatened were included.

For the battle of NC we held our ground but placed third place for both number of observations (Raleigh had 14,059 and Charlotte had 8,715). We were also third in number of observers (Raleigh had 449 and Charlotte had 377). We did, however, come out ahead of Charlotte in terms of number of species observed (we had 11 more than they did!) and placed second behind Raleigh (1,771 species).

Collectively 35,126 users worldwide contributed 963,773 observations of over 31,000 species. Winner of the top city for number of observations and number of species was Cape Town, while San Francisco took the honor of top number of observers. The most observed species worldwide was the common dandelion. Our region placed 33rd in the world for number of species observed and 47 for number of observations. In comparison Raleigh placed 21 for number of observations and 18 for number of species.

We learned a lot this year and are already coming up with some great ways to get people in the west engaged for the 2020 City Nature Challenge.

We have prizes for the top performing Team WNC members, but we applaud the efforts of every participant! In cases where an individual placed in both categories they won in the category with the highest slot earned. Myself and other employees of The North Carolina Arboretum were not eligible to win prizes.

The 2019 Team WNC Winners are...

Most Species:
1st: loriannkayaker
2nd: lenrely
3rd: adkinsadventures

Most Observations:
1st: jackollis
2nd: logpark
3rd: engelbrep

Congrats to all the winners! I'll be reaching out to each of you to ask for an address to send your prizes. I look forward joining you all in City Nature Challenge 2020 next year!

Jonathan

We're so excited to add Western North Carolina to the City Nature Challenge for our inaugural year! We join other NC regions including Greater Charlotte and the Triangle. Help us represent the our wonderland of biodiversity- not to mention the salamander capital of the world! You can track how we stack up against these other regions by joining the North Carolina City Nature Challenge: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/north-carolina-city-nature-challenge-2019

As a reminder, any observations made from midnight tonight through Monday within Western North Carolina will be counted. And, to sweeten the pot, we have some great prizes for our participants (I plan to upload a ton of observations but I'm not eligible for the prizes!).

First Place Species Count: You'll receive a pair of Vortex binoculars, a collection of field guides, a red-light flashlight (all courtesy of the Compleat Naturalist Nature Shop), National Parks of the US puzzle and NC Arboretum hat (courtesy of the Connections Gallery at the NC Arboretum), and a $100 gift card from Frugal Backpacker! In addition, the NC Museum of Natural Sciences has thrown in a set of smartphone camera lenses and a smartphone binocular adapter.

Second Place Species Count: a $100 gift card from Frugal Backpacker and a $50 gift card from REI, and a set of smartphone camera lenses and a smartphone binocular adapter.

Top Overall Observations: a $100 gift card from Frugal Backpacker, a $25 gift card from REI, and a set of smartphone camera lenses and a smartphone binocular adapter.

Second Place Overall Observations: a $100 gift card from REI.

Know a child ages 5-13 who wants to participate? If they sign up for ecoEXPLORE, a citizen science initiative of the NC Arboretum that links youth to iNaturalist, they can participate by uploading observations to www.ecoexplore.net. More prizes are available for these participants as well!

Happy BioBlitzing!

Jonathan Marchal,
Western NC City Nature Challenge Leader,
Youth Education Manager at The North Carolina Arboretum

Hello All!

Thank you for helping represent Team WNC in the City Nature Challenge! We have several events lined up for those who would like to participate, though participating on your own is also greatly encouraged. For more details on events please follow this link: https://www.ncarboretum.org/event/city-nature-challenge-wnc/?fbclid=IwAR29MkhQqOrMU6aAZVugyFJT-ZG_lETtIUh4X8XvpMh1Ye0miBfnNF8pmkU

We're hoping to have a strong showing for this, the first year our region is participating. There will be prizes awarded for the top adult, youth and youth group that contributes the most identified species. As a reminder, observations must be made between Friday, April 25 and Monday, April 29. They must all be uploaded by May 5, but we'd love to see what you are observing in real time! We can also use some help in identifying the organisms uploaded, which can also occur up to May 5.

Thank you in advance for your efforts! Please encourage others to join in!

Jonathan