07-21 | Nearly 180 Species of Greatest Conservation Need Noted by Texans During City Nature Challenge

July 21, 2026

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>AUSTIN — For the fifth year in a row, several Texas cities ranked in the top ten globally during the City Nature Challenge (CNC), one of the world’s largest community science events.

Globally, the 107,906 participants of the 2026 CNC recorded more than 2,880,111 observations with 75,155 species documented, including 5,628 rare, endangered or threatened species. The CNC had participants from 747 cities in 62 countries and six continents. All of these categories saw increased numbers from the 2025 CNC.

Fourteen Texas metropolitan areas participated in the challenge and logged a whopping 322,416 observations. Participants recorded more than 9,500 different species with more than 176 of those being Species of Greatest Conservation Need, including the Texas horned lizard, zone tailed hawk, tricolored bat, and Texas tortoise.

Four Texas urban areas ranked in the top 15 globally for number of observations, and Texas as a whole accounted for 11 percent of global observations.

The San Antonio Metro Area ranked second in both the number of observations and species observed, and first in number of observers, and the Dallas/Fort Worth Area ranked third in number of observations and third in number of species observed.

CNC is a global community-based scientific effort, co-organized by San Francisco’s California Academy of Sciences and the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. It invites current and aspiring citizen scientists of all ages and backgrounds to observe and submit pictures of wild plants, animals and fungi using the free iNaturalist mobile app.

TPWD’s Texas Nature Trackers program supports the CNC in Texas.

Visit the City Nature Challenge online to find links to Texas projects and learn more about the global project on the website.