Maricopa County Parks and Recreation: Discovery Station – Join the City Nature Challenge

Join Ranger Nikki to learn about this weekend’s City Nature Challenge April 24-27th and how your input can help the scientific community. Ranger Nikki will host a drop-in information table to help you become a Citizen Scientist by joining the global City Nature Challenge taking place this year April 24-27 and help Team Phoenix log the most specimens: flowers, trees, birds, bugs, fungi and more! Learn about the free iNaturalist app that identifies and documents nature photos that you take with your phone and creates an online biodiversity record for the scientific community to use in studying populations, occurrence ranges, seasonal changes and more! This year, we are excited to have our citizen science programs be a part of Citizen Science Month 2026, which is an official partner of America 250, the campaign to celebrate the United States of America’s semiquincentennial anniversary. You can double your impact on the initiative of reaching 2.50 Million Acts of Science by reporting your iNaturalist observations to SciStarter, an organization that connects people to citizen science projects, citizen scientists and resources. Create an account on SciStarter.org, an ASU research affiliate, and add your iNat username to settings (under “Affiliation Integration”). Do this once, and all your observations count! Due to limited connectivity in parks, it is advised to download the iNaturalist app while on wi-fi before arriving at the park. Wear closed-toe shoes, a hat and sunscreen if you are hiking afterwards and bring plenty of water. Restrooms and water are available at the Nature Center. MEETING LOCATION: Nature Center No registration required. Stop by anytime between 10:30am and 12:00pm.