I would like to participate in this year’s CNC, but my area is not within any of the projects. Is there any way it can be added?
(That’s my only question so far, but I left the title open in case anyone else would like to post questions here as well.)
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/city-nature-challenge-2021-global-project
Your area can’t be added now, you need organisation to lead it and deadline was months ago.
Even if your area cannot be added formally at this time, feel free to get in the spirit of the CNC and make an observation challenge for yourself or with friends nearby. See how many species you can find in one day, or how many new places you can explore during the event, or create a small bioblitz in your area and invite other iNat users to join you. The heart and soul of the CNC is to encourage more folks to get out in nature and see what is living around them. I think you are already most of the way there!!
Last year I was able to convince the nearest team to make their boundaries wider in order to include my area as well, and they were able to make that change just couple weeks before the event. (Evidently, adding a team is not permitted but there are no rules about the geographic area covered by existing teams, and project admins can edit theirs.) That might not help you if you don’t have a team anywhere even close to near by.
I like the idea of starting an informal “team” for people without teams. Sounds fun.
Did you try the map instead of the list? I couldn’t find my area on the list of cities https://citynaturechallenge.org/city-list-2021/, but when I zoomed in on the map I was able to find it. The “Sacramento Region,” as it was known in prior years, is listed under “Davis” on the list of cities even though the project title is still “Sacramento Region.”
Yes, I tried the list before but this time I just zoomed in on my area directly. It was right next to “Seattle-Tacoma Metropolitan Area” but not in it.
We’ve made a global “members only” CNC project for people who would like to take part in the CNC, but their cities currently don’t participate. Unlike the other CNC projects, people explicitly have to join this one, but it helps us see where there’s interest in the CNC.
And yes, zooming in on the map in the CNC 2021 umbrella project helps show the larger boundaries of CNC areas - most cities include their metro region as well, so looking at boundaries is better than going by the list of cities.
Ah so there is a team of no-team! Fun.