Memphis has a chance to make some global noise — not with music this time, but with mushrooms, moths, and mulberries. The annual City Nature Challenge returns this year, inviting locals to document the plants and wildlife that call Shelby County home. It’s part competition, part community science, and all about seeing your city a little differently.
Led locally by Overton Park Conservancy and programs manager Malle Carrasco-Harris, the weekend centers on a simple idea: take photos of any wild organism you find and upload them to iNaturalist. From there, a global network helps identify species, turning casual observations into real scientific data. More than 4,000 research papers have used iNaturalist data — not bad for a phone snapshot of a backyard beetle.
The main BioBlitz happens at Overton Park on Saturday, April 25th, starting at 10 a.m. at the golf clubhouse. Overton Park Conservancy director of communications Melissa McMasters says, “First-timers are welcome; our organizers provide a quick tutorial before heading into the Old Forest in small groups. And anything that catches our eye, we’ll photograph and upload to the [iNaturalist] app.” The goal isn’t to specialize — it’s to notice everything. Expect spring wildflowers like black snakeroot and jewelweed, plus pollinators, birds, and maybe a few surprises.
Memphis has quietly been a strong contender. Last year, participants logged 2,695 observations across 828 species, placing Memphis in the top third worldwide. This year’s goal, according to McMasters, is to log “3,000 observations and 1,000 species.” A slate of six events — including hikes at T.O. Fuller State Park and Meeman-Shelby Forest State Park, plus a moth-focused evening at River Garden — expands the habitats and species participants can encounter.
But you don’t need to attend an official event to join in. Any observation logged anywhere in Shelby County during the challenge counts. Photograph a flower on your block, a bird in your backyard, or a butterfly at your local park. Upload it, and you’re contributing to a global biodiversity snapshot.
Beyond the numbers, the weekend builds something harder to measure: connection. To nature, for sure — but also to neighbors who share a curiosity about the living world. In a city known for culture, the City Nature Challenge is a reminder that Memphis is also teeming with wildlife, waiting to be noticed.
CITY NATURE CHALLENGE, OVERTON PARK, 1914 POPLAR AVE., SATURDAY, APRIL 25, 10 A.M.