Penn State Berks will host an event with Berks County's Parks and Recreation Department as part of the City Nature Challenge (CNC). The event, in which participants will observe and identify wildlife and plants in the local environment, will be held from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sunday, April 27, 2025. Attendees will meet in the Penn State Berks Luerssen Science Building, room 4, and then move to Gring’s Mill Recreation Area. This event is free and open to the public and no experience is required but attendees are encouraged to register in advance.
This initiative at Penn State Berks is led by Bryan Wang, teaching professor of biology and coordinator of City Nature Challenge Berks County. He stated, “Reading and Berks County will be participating for the first time in City Nature Challenge in 2025. The Challenge is a fantastic way to connect people to the nature all around us and to each other. And City Nature Challenge Berks County is a way to show the world the incredible biodiversity in our county as well as the strength of our amazing nature-minded community.”
City Nature Challenge, one of the world’s largest community science events, marks its 10th year of connecting people through local nature and their communities. The four-day bioblitz begins on Friday, April 25 at 12:01 a.m. and runs through 11:59 p.m. on Monday, April 28 in Berks County.
Environmental organizations across Berks County have planned events throughout the April 25-28 City Nature Challenge weekend. In addition to the program at Penn State Berks and Gring’s Mill, programs at Rock Hollow Woods Environmental Learning Center in Birdsboro and at Nolde Forest Environmental Education Center in Reading will gather people to learn about iNaturalist and survey the nature at these sites. In addition, Berks Nature staff and volunteers will discuss the City Nature Challenge and iNaturalist at the Earth Day Berks celebration in Reading City Park on Saturday, April 26. Berks County will close its participation in the Challenge with a results-and-wrap party sponsored by Berks Nature at The Nature Place on May 9.
From participating in organized biodiversity surveys to recording the wildlife in their own neighborhood, City Nature Challenge encourages community scientists of all levels to explore their local environment—all while contributing to biodiversity science and conservation. Photos taken during the Challenge can be uploaded to iNaturalist, where an online community of naturalists confirms species identifications. Then identification of photographed species will be crowdsourced through the online community April 29 – May 4, and results will be announced on May 5.
Wildlife can be found in the participants’ homes, neighborhoods, backyards, or anywhere else, and can be any wild plant, animal, fungus, slime mold or other evidence of life (scat, fur, tracks, shells, etc.). Whether participating in an organized habitat survey or making observations in their own neighborhood, participants can upload photos or sound recordings of their findings to iNaturalist, where they can learn more about the plants and animals they find as their observations are identified.
Those not able to take photos or record their observations can still participate by helping identify species documented in their area during and after the Challenge.