Monadnock Region Makes Strong Debut in Global City Nature Challenge

This year, the Monadnock Region joined hundreds of communities around the globe for the City Nature Challenge (CNC), a four-day biodiversity celebration and BioBlitz from April 24-27. During that time, 93 observers made 3,829 iNaturalist observations of 974 unique species in the Monadnock Region — an incredible feat for our first time participating!

Our results show the value of holding BioBlitzes like these, with many uncommon or under-documented species observed during the CNC. The team documented 10 species that had not previously been observed on iNaturalist in the state of New Hampshire, and an additional 15 species that also had never before been documented in the Monadnock Region, most of which were insects.

These include the critters in the photo below (from left to right): Ampedus oblessus observed by Steven Lamonde in Hancock, Marmara salictella observed by Lucy McKay, and Podisus serieventris observed by Jack Forrester, the latter two at The Caterpillar Lab’s new headquarters in Dublin.

Left to right: Buggin’ out with species Ampedus oblessus, Marmaras alictella, and Podisus serieventris .(photos © Steven Lamonde, Lucy McKay, Jack Forrester)

The CNC also brought people together through a series of public outings and biodiversity-themed events hosted throughout the region. Five events were hosted by local nature clubs, including The Caterpillar Lab, Distant Hill Gardens and Nature Trail, Monadnock Bird and Nature Club, New England Botanical Society, and the Harris Center, of course!

Globally, the 2026 City Nature Challenge was the largest yet, with participants from 754 cities in 61 countries collectively documenting more than 76,000 species and over 3 million observations. More than 5,600 rare, endangered, or threatened species were recorded during the four-day event, including a Golden Gate Leech, a species of leech that had never before been recorded on iNaturalist.

The City Nature Challenge is organized annually by the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and the California Academy of Sciences in collaboration with iNaturalist, a global community science platform used to document biodiversity around the world.

For the Monadnock Region organizers, the event’s success highlights both the extraordinary biodiversity of southwestern New Hampshire and the enthusiasm of local naturalists eager to contribute to conservation science.

This was an incredible first year. We’re already looking forward to seeing what people discover in 2027!