City Nature Challenge at Darwin Beach

Welcome to the City Nature Challenge at Darwin Beach! Join us for a fun and interactive event for the whole family where we will explore the natural beauty of our city and help put South Florida on the map, literally!

• Event Date: Fri Apr 26 2024
• Event Time: 6:30 PM
• Location: Salt Waterfront Cafeteria

What is the City Nature Challenge?

Started in 2016 as a competition between Los Angeles and San Francisco, the City Nature Challenge (CNC) has grown into an international event, motivating people around the world to find and document wildlife in their own cities. Run by the Community Science teams at the California Academy of Sciences and the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County (NHM), the CNC is an annual four-day global bioblitz at the end of April, where cities are in a collaboration-meets-friendly-competition to see what can be accomplished when we all work toward a common goal.

How Do Volunteers Participate in CNC?

Using the iNaturalist App and camera on your smartphone, participants will make observations of wildlife on Darwin Beach to be submitted to the City Nature Challenge. These identifications will go toward South Florida’s total observation count, with the winning cities and regions being announced on Monday, May 6th, 2024. Volunteers will simply find wildlife on the beach (plant, animal, etc.), take a picture of what you find, note the location, and share your observation through iNaturalist.

What Else Will Volunteers Do?

Glad you asked! Of course we want everyone to participate in the CNC efforts, but volunteers will also have the opportunity to remove invasive vegetation, participate in a marine debris cleanup, and even plant some native species! With a fun BINGO game for the kids, and MORAES staff on site to assist with all efforts, this event should be a fun event for who who join!

What Should Volunteers Bring?

To participate in the event, volunteers should download the iNaturalist app prior to arriving. Once at the event, volunteers should have closed-toed shoes and comfortable clothes that would allow them to safely participate in any of their preferred beach activities (invasive vegetation removal, beach cleanup, etc.). MORAES will provide gloves, buckets, trashbags, and vegetation removal devices.

Come Join Us!

If you’ve never joined MORAES for an event, this is a great opportunity to connect with nature and learn more about the environment around us. Whether you're a seasoned nature enthusiast or just looking to try something new, this event is perfect for all ages and experience levels. Plus, you wouldn’t want to miss the raffle at the end of the night! After the event, feel free to stay and enjoy the rest of sunset at Salt Waterfront Restaurant.

If you have any questions at all about the upcoming event, email us directly at [email protected]

Interested in being a future MORAES sponsor?

If you’d like to sponsor one of MORAES future events, check out the flier below. Becoming an event sponsor not only supports MORAES, but gives your organization the opportunity to display your logo at our event and on our website and newsletter! Plus, presenting sponsors have the chance to table at our event and interact directly with all our volunteers! If you’re interested, please email us directly at [email protected]

Host or Publisher MORAES