Join hundreds of cities worldwide for community-led conservation in Los Angeles for the 10th annual City Nature Challenge at Elephant Hill! The City Nature Challenge is an annual 4-day urban habitat survey where people just like you in cities all over the world contribute photos of nature in their neighborhoods. These photos build a global urban biodiversity database for conservation, restoration, land management and research.
Take part at Elephant Hill by documenting wildlife with scientists from the Natural History Museum using your phone camera.
Your photos become data in a global effort to help understand and protect urban biodiversity, including nature at Elephant Hill!
Meet people protecting and restoring Elephant Hill from threats like offroading.
Bring a hat, sunscreen, phone camera, water bottle, and comfortable clothes and shoes to walk in. Please be aware that some parts of the nature walks take place on unshaded terrain.
Arrive prepared to protect wildlife at Elephant Hill with community science! Download the iNaturalist app: Free on Apple, Android and on iNaturalist.org. Watch this 1 minute 24 second video to see how easy it is to document biodiversity with your phone!
Accessibility Information
The event is held outdoors. Water in coolers, snacks and porta-potties will be available.
The Habitat Surveys taking place on Elephant Hill require navigating rocky, rutted, sometimes narrow and steep packed dirt and loose dirt paths.
Habitat surveys along connecting neighborhoods will take place on ADA-compliant paved sidewalk with adequate cut-outs. These surrounding neighborhood surveys collect data that helps us understand how Elephant Hill connects to other green spaces in the area.
Hearing guests may notice bird calls, conversations on the trail and at the tables featuring the work of community, and vehicle activity at the entrance to Elephant Hil.
Sighted guests may notice reptiles, snails, birds, and signs of wildlife like coyote tracks or bobcat scat. Note that the central hub of this event takes place off a quiet residential street.
For additional accessibility questions or to arrange accomodations for your participation, please email stayag@nhm.org.
Image Credit: Amy Jaecker-Jones
Read more about Elephant Hill and Community Science
Community Conservation at Elephant Hill: How co-created community science helps in the fight to save East L.A.'s largest open space
Learn more about the City Nature Challenge in Los Angeles:
Global Community Science: How crowd-sourced science projects like the City Nature Challenge fuel research to protect our planet
City Nature Challenge: Los Angeles at NHM.org
See how many people in how many cities contribute worldwide at the global City Nature Challenge Website.
This event is supported with funding from the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority and the CA Off Highway Motor Vehicle Recreation Division.