Explore Gowanus Wildlife!
Thank you to everyone who joined Gowanus Canal Conservancy as we participated in the 2025 City Nature Challenge! The City Nature Challenge is a global bioblitz with participating cities in friendly competition for the number of species found within their limits.
GCC hosted two events over the course of the challenge:
Marine Life Mini-Blitz
Friday, April 25th
5:00 – 6:30 PM
Join GCC at the Lowlands Nursery to explore and document the marine life of the Gowanus Canal. Learn about the Mussel Habitat Project, iNaturalist and meet your wild neighbors of the Gowanus Canal.
Keystone Plants Blitz: Nurturing Moths & Butterflies in Our Ecosystems
Saturday, April 26th
11:00 AM to 12:30 PM
Join us for a delightful excursion outdoors at Lowlands Nursery and the recently constructed water esplanade at 300 Huntington. Together, we’ll explore native plants onsite that play an essential role in supporting the health and balance of our local ecosystems by providing food and shelter for a wide range of wildlife.
Our focus will be mostly on local trees and shrubs that serve as vital hosts for moths and butterflies, and we’ll share tips on how to identify the plants along the way. We’ll also take a peek at our habitat pile onsite at Lowlands Nursery and talk about ways to foster gardens for wildlife. No prior experience with plant or insect identification is needed, just a curiosity for nature! Feel free to bring a phone if you’d like to take photos and join in our bioblitz. Come and go as you please, and enjoy a relaxed and engaging morning with us in nature.
Events are free to attend; Prior registration is required and space is limited. All events will begin at the Lowlands Nursery (25 9th Street).
Workshop attendees under the age of 14 must be accompanied by an adult, and those under the age of 18 will need a waiver signed by a parent or guardian.
Inclement weather: We will host these events rain or shine. In the case of severe weather, we will cancel.
The City Nature Challenge
The City Nature Challenge takes place through iNaturalist annually at the end of April over the course of four days. Learn more about the City Nature Challenge here.
Participation in the City Nature Challenge (CNC) in New York City is easy, you can join an organized event like the three Gowanus Canal Conservancy is hosting or just venture outside on your own. Snap pictures of wild plants, animals, anything living (except people, cats and dogs) and log your findings into iNaturalist within any borough of New York City.
Things you need to participate in CNC with GCC or on your own:
-
The iNaturalist app. Visit iNaturalist.org to get the free app and set up your account
-
Know the ins and outs of using iNaturalist. Look over some quick tutorials here, including how to set up your account and add observations.
-
Snap observations on any of the dates of the CNC, You don’t even need to know what you are looking at, take your best guess or use the ID suggestions, then submit your observations.*
-
Are you a budding naturalist? Do you have an affinity for a specific taxa? Take your participation a step further and help to identify observations on the 4 day period following the CNC!
*Observations can be of any living thing (protists, plants, fungi or animals) in the area of your participating city. That moss in the sidewalk crevice counts! Do not include observations of domestic dogs, cats, or people as they are not counted.