{"id":8349,"date":"2018-04-20T16:58:27","date_gmt":"2018-04-20T16:58:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/?p=8349"},"modified":"2018-04-20T16:58:27","modified_gmt":"2018-04-20T16:58:27","slug":"the-great-valley-challenge-of-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/?p=8349","title":{"rendered":"The Great Valley Challenge of 2018"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Pipevine-Swallowtail-on-Texas-Thistle-by-Anita-Westervelt\"<\/a><\/p>\n

SAN BENITO, TEXAS\u2013<\/strong>This is big! Mark your calendars for April 27 \u2013 30. It\u2019s the great international City Nature Challenge. Some call it a Bio-Blitz, and it\u2019s worldwide for the first time.<\/p>\n

Given the Valley\u2019s plant and animal diversity, the Valley\u2019s Texas Master Naturalist chapters want the Valley to win this challenge. \u201cWe think we have an advantage because of our incredible diversity,\u201d said South Texas Border Chapter, Texas Master Naturalist Vice President Elizabeth Perdomo. \u201cWe encourage people to be enthused and commit time to this challenge during the four day operating window.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anyone in the Valley with a phone capable of taking photographs, or anyone with a camera and access to the Internet is encouraged to learn about this opportunity and enter the challenge.<\/p>\n

The Valley is entering as its own entity. The geographic area considered the Valley\u2019s \u201ccity\u201d for this challenge is Falcon to the Gulf Coast, including all of Cameron, Hidalgo, Starr and Willacy counties.<\/p>\n

Last year Dallas, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Austin and Houston were the top five cities respectively, with the highest totals of the competition categories.<\/p>\n

Competition categories are: 1. Total Observations, 2. Species Identified and 3. People Participating.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s easy to get involved,\u201d said Rio Grande Valley Chapter, Texas Master Naturalist President Steve Lanoux. \u201cAll that\u2019s involved is downloading an app onto your phone \u2014 or using a camera and computer \u2014 then taking photos of native plants, birds, critters, bugs, insects, caterpillars, sea\/beach\/dune life, fungi \u2014 any of the things that make up the Valley\u2019s native diversity. It\u2019s that easy.\u201d<\/p>\n

The easiest and quickest way to enter species in the challenge is to\u00a0download the free iNaturalist app<\/a>\u00a0onto your Android or iPhone, and create an account using the provided prompts.<\/p>\n

Those who wish to use a camera and enter data from a computer may set up an account via\u00a0www.inaturalist.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Photographers don\u2019t have to know the name of the species they are photographing. The\u00a0iNaturalist app<\/a>\u00a0allows an option for posting without that knowledge, or to select from a data base of like subjects.<\/p>\n

Trees and plants do not have to be in bloom to be included. There are options for Geo privacy for those shooting on private land. Without opting for privacy, Geo coordinates are available to anyone using the program. The app also allows opportunities to correct mistakes.<\/p>\n

For help getting started, visit your favorite Valley nature refuge or center or visit the links below.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.inaturalist.org\/projects\/city-nature-challenge-2018-lower-rio-grande-valley<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/tpwd.texas.gov\/huntwild\/wild\/wildlife_diversity\/texas_nature_trackers\/naturechallenge\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Another way to get assistance is to ask a Texas Master Naturalist. In the Upper Valley, contact the South Texas Border Chapter at\u00a0mateliza@aol.com<\/a>. In the Lower Valley, contact the Rio Grande Valley Chapter at\u00a0s_lanoux@yahoo.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The City Nature Challenge is more than a game or contest. The iNaturalist is a repository of valuable habitat information. Considered crowdsource identifications, entrants may connect with experts who can identify the observed organisms. Citizens also help create useful data which helps scientists and researchers understand when and where organisms occur.<\/p>\n

More than 75 cities on six continents will be competing to see who can make the most observations of nature, find the most species, and engage the most people in this worldwide 2018 City Nature Challenge.<\/p>\n

Results will be announced Friday, May 4, 2018; observations must be uploaded prior to that.<\/p>\n

\u201cLoad up iNaturalist, and we hope to see you out and about April 27 through the 30 for this most important Valley project,\u201d said Perdomo. \u201cStart in your own back yard and then beyond!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSpecies only count for the Valley\u2019s tally that are in our geographical parameters and during the four-day challenge timeframe,\u201d said Lanoux. \u201cTeam up, pair up, use the buddy system. Make it an adventure.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SAN BENITO, TEXAS\u2013This is big! Mark your calendars for April 27 \u2013 30. It\u2019s the great international City Nature Challenge. Some call it a Bio-Blitz, and it\u2019s worldwide for the first time. Given the Valley\u2019s plant and animal diversity, the Valley\u2019s Texas Master Naturalist chapters want the Valley to win this challenge. \u201cWe think we […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":8350,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8349","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-valley"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8349","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8349"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8349\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8351,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8349\/revisions\/8351"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}