April 26, 2023
For Immediate Release 

London Participating in City Nature Challenge – Join a Guided Hike at Fanshawe Conservation Area on April 30th 

 On April 30th, you can join an interpretive hike at Fanshawe Conservation Area as part of the 2023 City Nature Challenge. Environmental educators will guide participants through identifying plant and animal species using the iNaturalist app on their smartphones. 

“Guided hikes are a great way to learn about nature right in your own backyard. Educators are available to answer your questions and help you along your citizen science journey,” said April Scholz, Community Partnerships Specialist with the Upper Thames River Conservation Authority.  

 The City Nature Challenge is a global community science initiative that aims to track global biodiversity. This year, London will join over 450 cities from 43 countries in a competition to track the highest number of wildlife observations from April 28 to May 1. Last year, 76,984 observations were made of 4,551 species in Canada. 

“We live in a big country and scientists can’t be everywhere, but by using smartphones and digital cameras as tools, iNaturalist helps community members become citizen scientists and contribute to conservation management,” said James Pagé, Species at Risk and Biodiversity Specialist with the Canadian Wildlife Federation.  

 London community members can participate by uploading species observations as photos and sounds to the iNaturalist platform. The observations become part of an international database of biodiversity. People can join any of the 18 guided hikes happening around London, or make their own observations of uncultivated plants, wild animals, and fungi. 

 “The City Nature Challenge will be a fun way for us all to learn more about local biodiversity. My hope is that the London community will see how easy it is to use iNaturalist and start to help make wildlife observations year-round,” said Kari Moreland, professor and at Fanshawe College. 

 2023 will be London’s first year participating in the City Nature Challenge, organized by Fanshawe College in collaboration with many community partners:  

  • Fanshawe College 
  • Fanshawe Centre for Research and Innovation 
  •  Fanshawe Sustainability 
  • Western’s Biodiversity Inventory 
  • Western Sustainability 
  • Nature London 
  • Thames Talbot Land Trust 
  • Upper Thames River Conservation Authority 
  • Bird Friendly London 
  • ReForest London 
  • London Public Library 
  • Thames Valley District Schoolboard  
  • London Environmental Network  
  • Let’s Talk Science  
  • Museum of Ontario Archaeology  
  • Canadian Wildlife Federation  
  • Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County  
  • California Academy of Sciences 

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 Media Contacts: 

Kari Moreland (Primary contact)
Professor, Fanshawe College
[email protected]
519-630-2341  

April Scholz (Contact for iNaturalist Interpretive Hike at Fanshawe Conservation Area)
Community Partnerships Specialist, Upper Thames River Conservation Authority
[email protected]
519-451-2800 ext. 227 

Related Links: 

About the City Nature Challenge: 

Started in 2016 for the first-ever Citizen Science Day, the teams at Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and California Academy of Sciences dreamed up the City Nature Challenge as a fun way to capitalize on their home cities’ friendly rivalry. In 2017 the City Nature Challenge went national and in 2018 it became an international event.  

About iNaturalist
Signing up is easy and free. Visit inaturalist.org from your browser, or download iNaturalist from the Apple App Store or Google Play store.  

Participating Canadian Cities 

Barrie 

Brandon 

Calgary Metropolitan Region 

Cape Breton 

Carleton/ York County  

Charlottetown  

City of Kingston 

City of Peterborough 

City of Windsor 

Columbia-Shuswap, RD, BC 

Delta 

Edmonton metro area 

Gatineau 

Greater Montreal  

 Halifax Regional Municipality 

Hamilton 

Kamloops 

London 

Northumberland/Kent County 

Oakville Ontario 

Okanagan Valley 

Ottawa 

Q Ottawa 

Québec City metropolitan community 

Red Deer Area 

Regina and Area 

Saskatoon 

Sault Ste. Marie

 St. Catharines 

St. John’s 

Summerside 

Surrey 

The Annapolis Valley 

Thunder Bay District 

Toronto and Greater Toronto Area 

Tri-City (Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam, Port Moody, BC, Canada) 

Vancouver  

Victoria County 

Westmorland County 

Whitehorse 

Winnipeg