Written by Kelsey Low

Virtual Earth Day Celebration

Check out our social media (Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram) on April 22 for our virtual Earth Day celebration. We’ll be posting a new Habitat Hike video, hosting an online Milkweed Sale, and sharing how Arboretum Staff are celebrating. We encourage you to take a hike around your own neighborhood and take in all of the nature around you.

Take your nature walk to the next level with one of these ideas:

• Go on a Springtime Scavenger Hunt
• Use your senses to go on a Pollution Search in your neighborhood and brainstorm solutions

City Nature Challenge

With the iNaturalist City Nature Challenge starting this coming weekend, you’ll have even more reasons to (safely) go outside! From April 24-27, people all over the world will get out and observe as many species as possible. Although it isn’t a competition this year, we still want to show off Houston’s wild side and find as many species as we can. Help us by downloading the free iNaturalist app and using it to observe plants, animals, and fungi in your backyard, on your patio, or in your neighborhood. We challenge you to spot five species of plants or animals between April 24 and April 27.

Here are a few links for you to use during the Challenge:

• Keep track of Arboretum sightings on the Houston Arboretum iNaturalist project page
• Keep track of Houston’s progress on the City Nature Challenge 2020: Houston-Galveston project page
• Document your sightings by making “trading cards” of the species you find