Selby Gardens Invites Citizens to Participate in the City Nature Challenge

April 26, 2021 – Sarasota

Marie Selby Botanical Gardens’ (Selby Gardens) Sarasota-Manatee EcoFlora project is seeking partners and participants for the City Nature Challenge (CNC), an international effort to document urban biodiversity. Selby Gardens is partnering with The Nature Conservancy in Orlando, Florida to host a friendly competition among several Florida communities, including Alachua County, Boca Raton, the Orlando metro area, Manatee and Sarasota Counties, South Florida (Miami-Dade, Monroe and Broward Counties) and St. John County. The CNC observation period will take place April 30 through May 3, 2021. The results will be announced on May 10, 2021.

The CNC is an international effort to get people into nature and to document their local biodiversity—nature and animals found in their community. During the course of four days, community members acting as citizen scientists around the world will log as many observations of the natural world as they can into a program called iNaturalist, a free downloadable smartphone app. Next, experts will help to identify the observations to see how many different species were documented. Partners in more than 40 countries around the world will participate. These observations will help to connect people with nature and provide valuable data for researchers, while promoting education and conservation of natural resources.

Selby Gardens and partners will host opportunities for community members to come together and document nature. These bioblitzes are as follows:

SARASOTA COUNTY

FRIDAY, APRIL 30
9 a.m. – noon
PHILLIPPI ESTATE PARK
5500 South Tamiami Trail, Sarasota
Hosted by: Sarasota County Parks, Recreation, & Natural Resources
No registration required. 

FRIDAY, APRIL 30
9 a.m. – noon
TED SPERLING PARK (SOUTH LIDO PUBLIC BEACH)
2201 Benjamin Franklin Drive, Sarasota
Hosted by: Sarasota County Parks, Recreation, & Natural Resources
No registration required. Poison Ivy is prevalent here, so dress accordingly. Closed toed shoes, long pants, and shirt recommended. Meet at the SarasotaCounty tent near the playground at the end of Benjamin Franklin Drive. 

SATURDAY, MAY 1
9 a.m. – noon
POTTER PARK
8587 Potter Park Drive, Sarasota
Hosted by: Marie Selby Botanical Gardens
No registration required. 

MANATEE COUNTY

SATURDAY, MAY 1
9 – 11 a.m.
JOHNSON PRESERVE
Hosted by: Conservation Foundation of the Gulf Coast andManatee County Parks & Natural Resources
Registration required through Eventbrite, as space is limited. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/150931190253 

MONDAY, MAY 3
9 a.m. – noon
RYE PRESERVE
905 Rye Wilderness Trail, Parrish
Hosted by: Marie Selby Botanical Gardens.
No registration required. Meet at the pavilion.

The CNC builds on Selby Gardens’ work as part of the EcoFlora project. For the past year, Selby Gardens has collaborated with the New York Botanical Garden, Chicago Botanic Garden, Denver Botanic Gardens, and Desert Botanical Garden to expand New York Botanical Garden’s pioneering EcoFlora Project. A grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services provides a portion of the funding necessary for Selby Gardens to participate in the multi-year project. The goal of the EcoFlora Project is to enlist the help of citizens in documenting the diversity and distribution of plants in their respective geographic areas. The Sarasota- Manatee EcoFlora Project is dedicated to the flora of Sarasota and Manatee Counties, Florida, USA.

The City Nature Challenge is organized on a global scale by the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and the California Academy of Sciences.

To participate, sign up for the bioblitzes, and learn more, visit selby.org/take-the-city-nature-challenge-2021/. For additional information, please contact Lynn H. Bates at lbates@selby.org