Volunteer for the City Nature Challenge
April 24 – 27, 2026
The City Nature Challenge (CNC) is quickly approaching! With all the warm weather we’ve been having, it’s a perfect time to go outside and explore. For those who are not familiar with the CNC, it began in 2016 as a friendly competition between Los Angeles and San Francisco to encourage people to go out and find wildlife. Over the years, it has expanded to other states and is now a nationwide effort to help document wild plants and animals.
This four-day event will take place from April 24th through 27th, and Rancho Los Cerritos will be participating as a host site. There are a few rules for your photos to count:
- Find and photograph wildlife.
This includes any wild plant, animal, fungi, slime mold, or other evidence of life found in your city. “Wild” means it wasn’t planted or cared for by people. Most of our garden collections will not count, but our critter friends and other naturally occurring organisms will. - Take clear, close photos to help with identification.
Photos cannot be far away or blurry. Observations logged into iNaturalist are used for research, so quality images are important. You can also record sounds of what you find. Be sure to note the location of the critter or plant. - Share your observations.
Upload your findings through iNaturalist or your city’s chosen platform. If something is planted or maintained by people, it is not wild—mark it as captive/cultivated. iNaturalist can be downloaded as a mobile app or accessed on their website. - Join Rancho Los Cerritos (optional).
If you would like to join our project folder for this year’s challenge, you can find us under City Nature Challenge 2026: Rancho Los Cerritos. Here you can see all observations made by you and other participants.
We challenge you to come out and participate! If you have any questions, please reach out. We look forward to seeing you here for the City Nature Challenge.
