Lower Neponset River Trail.Photo: Resiliency Initiative for the Trustees of the Reservations
BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — The City Nature Challenge for the Boston area had volunteers exploring areas from backyards to urban forests, to parks, along the coast, anywhere that people wanted to go.
The purpose is to document and share observations of nature in urban areas.
The event started 10 years ago in California as a competition to help understand urban biodiversity.
Due to its popularity, it expanded to other regions, including Boston.
From April 24 - 27, participants explored their communities, recording wildlife they found.
Pictures were taken and shared, and all of the results are being compiled.
Community Outreach Manager with the Resiliency Initiative for the Trustees of the Reservations, Arlenne Rodriguez Gonzalez, led some of the events and explained how the challenge works. "The goal is to get people to go outside and record, observe plants, animals, all kinds of species, and upload it."
Not all of the species documented are welcome.
The challenge also identifies invasive plants such as oriental bittersweet and garlic mustard, helping to keep them in check. "That invasive plant could take away the nutrients in the soil for a tree to grow, and we want to make sure that doesn't happen."
Last year's challenge produced over 3 million observations, finding tens of thousands of species.
The results of this year's City Nature Challenge will be published next month.
WBZ NewsRadio's Jared Brosnan (@JaredBrosnanWBZ) reports.