This April, Bowling Green and South Central Kentucky will participate in the City Nature Challenge (CNC), an annual four-day global bioblitz conducted on the popular nature app, iNaturalist. This will be the first official CNC project in the South Central Kentucky region.
The CNC is one of the largest community-science events in the world. The goal is to observe and identify as many species of wild animals, plants and fungi as possible. Observations can be made in a backyard, at a local park or even in a grocery store parking lot. The collaboration-meets-friendly-competition provides community scientists with an exciting reason to get outdoors and observe nature, but with a critical purpose. The data collected contribute to local and global science, providing valuable information about biodiversity.
Here’s how the challenge works: from April 26–29, participants can take a photo of any animal, plant or fungi and create an observation in the iNaturalist app. All observations 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 CNC project. To keep track of our region’s observations, iNaturalist users can join the project at bit.ly/CNCBGKY.
More than 500 cities are participating in the global bioblitz, including four Kentucky cities: Bowling Green, Frankfort, Lexington and Louisville. A state-wide CNC project will track the competition between the Kentucky citites. iNaturalist users can join the project to follow the results at bit.ly/CNCKY2024.
First-time users can learn more about using iNaturalist on their website, inaturalist.org/pages/getting+started. On March 14 and April 11, the Wild Ones Southern Kentucky Chapter will host in-person opportunities to see iNaturalist demonstrations and discuss local biodiversity during the chapter’s monthly meetings in the River Birch Room at Lost River Cave. Additional details can be found at soky.wildones.org/events.
Join us on Thursday, April 11 in the River Birch Room at Lost River Cave to participate in an iNaturalist demonstration and learn more about the City Nature Challenge. During this meeting, we’ll hear from the meadow restoration team at Lost River Cave to learn about the results of their 2023 meadow inventories and learn how you can help with the 2024 BioBlitzes.
The first Lost River Cave BioBlitz is Saturday, April 27, during the City Nature Challenge! Volunteers will meet at Lost River Cave to contribute to their meadow restoration efforts, and make observations during the challenge. This is a unique opportunity to contribute to local environmental science and boost Bowling Green’s CNC observations! Learn more and register at lostrivercave.org/events.
The 2024 Bowling Green and South Central Kentucky CNC is co-organized by the Wild Ones Southern Kentucky Chapter and Lost River Cave. Individuals or organizations interested in joining the organizing committee should contact [email protected]. Local nature events being held during the CNC, April 26–29, will be added to the list of project events. Please email details to [email protected].