Greater Houston WON Most Species Found
During City Nature Challenge, April 14-18
This post is a bit late. Most of you probably already know that Greater Houston recorded the most number of species in the entire USA during the City Nature Challenge! Previously not posted: a summary of the entire City Nature Challenge is at http://www.inaturalist.org/projects/city-nature-challenge-2017 where there is a link to a quick 5 question survey. Please take that and let the organizers know your experience.
Interesting that the most observed species in all the cities is #1 mallard and #2 honey bee. Furthermore, Houston’s own Andy Newman is second of all the participants in the number of species he posted. Yay Andy!
A summary of Houston’s results: Thanks to all the 417 people in greater Houston who posted to iNaturalist during the City Nature Challenge 2017, the answer to the Challenge’s question “Which City Can Find the Most Nature?” is Greater Houston! We not only won in Texas, we won in the entire country with an official tally of 2419 species posted – just 18 more than Austin, with which we were neck and neck on the last day! Dallas won the most observations posted and Los Angelos won most number of people posting. We won the MOST IMPORTANT CATEGORY and were in the top five in the other two categories.
The person in greater Houston who posted the most observations is NPSOT-H’s Kelly Walker. Second is Andy Newman of Harris County Flood Control. The two in greater Houston who posted the most number of species are first Andy Newman and second, Jed Aplaca of Natural Resources Manager of Houston Park and Recreation Department.
Most of us already knew that greater Houston is incredibly diverse with our coastal prairie, seashore, coastal marches and wetlands, piney woods and forests, and riparian habitats. Now the entire nation knows, thanks to all those who participated in this year’s challenge. Please sharpen your skills for next year, when the City Nature Challenge goes international! Tip for next year: Jaime Gonzalez noted that no one took the Bolivar Ferry this year and posted dolphin as a species!