{"id":260138,"date":"2026-04-21T21:58:27","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T21:58:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/260138\/"},"modified":"2026-04-21T21:58:27","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T21:58:27","slug":"el-paso-gears-up-for-global-city-nature-challenge-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/260138\/","title":{"rendered":"El Paso gears up for global City Nature Challenge 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"548\" height=\"200\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Returning-Organizer-Banner_English_Knockout-2.avif.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">EL PASO, Texas (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.ktsm.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:KTSM;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;KTSM&quot;}\" class=\"link \">KTSM<\/a>) \u2014 Locals are being encouraged to step outside and explore local wildlife as El Paso joins cities around the world for the annual City Nature Challenge, a global effort to document urban biodiversity.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The event, first launched in 2016 by the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and the California Academy of Sciences, brings together communities in a friendly competition to record observations of plants and animals.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Participating cities compete to see who can log the most wildlife observations, identify the greatest number of species, and engage the highest number of participants.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">This year\u2019s observation period runs from April 24 through April 27, during which participants can record wildlife using the iNaturalist platform. A second phase, from April 28 to May 10 allows users to upload and help identify species collected during the challenge.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Several local organizations are supporting the effort in El Paso by offering workshops, guided outings, and self-guided opportunities for residents to get involved, officials stated.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">These include the El Paso\/Trans-Pecos Audubon Society, Frontera Land Alliance, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, Insights Science Discovery, and Rio Bosque Wetlands Park.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Organizers say the challenge not only fosters a sense of community but also contributes valuable data to scientists studying urban ecosystems.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Participants of all ages and experience levels are welcome.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Beyond the competition, the event offers an opportunity for residents to reconnect with nature and discover the variety of plant and animal life that exists within El Paso\u2019s urban environment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ktsm.com\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTSM 9 News.;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTSM 9 News.&quot;}\" class=\"link \"> For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTSM 9 News. <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) \u2014 Locals are being encouraged to step outside and explore local wildlife as El&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":246191,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[97478,138,140,139,97482,97479,27,97480,97481],"class_list":{"0":"post-260138","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-el-paso","8":"tag-california-academy-of-sciences","9":"tag-el-paso","10":"tag-el-paso-headlines","11":"tag-el-paso-news","12":"tag-friendly-competition","13":"tag-global-effort","14":"tag-texas","15":"tag-urban-biodiversity","16":"tag-wildlife-observations"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260138","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=260138"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260138\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/246191"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=260138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=260138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=260138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}