Get involved in the City Nature Challenge

During a period of four days from 29 April to 2 May 2022, cities all around the world participate to see which city can find and record the most (and most interesting!) observations of local plants, animals, fungi, and insects using the iNaturalist App.

Help us show the world the incredible biodiversity of Cardinia Shire by getting into nature and taking pictures of wild plants and animals.

Participating is easy, all you need to do is: 

1. Download iNaturalist on your phone and create an account. 
2. Go explore your garden, local park or reserve, wetland or creek, and streets and nature strips from Friday 29 April to Monday 2 May. 
3. Look for plants, fungus and animals that you would like to record – indoor or garden plants, pets, captive animals, and humans don’t count. 
4. Take a photo of each different plant, animal, or fungus you find and upload your observation to iNaturalist – make sure to include the location! This way the observations will automatically be pooled to Cardinia’s project.
5. Enjoy your time connecting to nature and inspire other people to join the challenge.
6. Track the results and see how Cardinia Shire is going against the other Melbourne councils and how Greater Melbourne is going against the rest of the world.
7. Keep using iNaturalist after the challenge to record your nature observations wherever you are.

“We joined the City Nature Challenge to encourage the community to get out into nature and record Cardinia Shire’s beautiful local animals, plants, and fungi species,” said Cardinia Shire Mayor Councillor Jeff Springfield of the event.

“By participating, you’ll be helping the global scientific community to better understand biodiversity in urban spaces and find ways on how we can improve its protection.”

Council is also hosting a face-to-face workshop on Thursday 28 April from 1:00 to 2:30pm at Deep Creek Reserve, Pakenham. The workshop, hosted by Sustainable Gardening Australia, will focus on encouraging native bees and butterflies into your garden. Join the workshop and get involved in making wild-flower seed bombs and learn more about sustainable gardening.

For more information about the City Nature Challenge event and the workshop at Deep Creek Reserve, visit Council’s website at www.cardinia.vic.gov.au/citynaturechallenge

If you haven’t used iNaturalist before or don’t feel confident navigating it, we recommend you visit these resources to get familiarised with it before the challenge:

• iNaturalist training webinar organised as part of the City Nature Challenge 2021.
• iNaturalist getting started guide
• iNaturalist video tutorials
• iNaturalist FAQs