Participate in the world-wide 2024 City Nature Challenge by joining City of Issaquah Urban Forest Supervisor Dan Hintz on an excursion onto the Lake Tradition Plateau to learn about and identify as many unique species of plants and animals as possible. The Challenge runs from April 26 to 29, 2024 and your observations will count towards those made from within the wider Seattle-Tacoma Metropolitan Area. This is a friendly competition among cities to see who can identify the most unique species, while helping citizens and scientists alike better understand local biodiversity.

Trailhead: East Sunset Way
Trail(s): Multiple, including the Big Tree Trail
Distance: 3+miles
Elevation Gain: 500+ft.
Hike Leader: Dan Hintz, Urban Forest Supervisor, City of Issaquah

Free to Participate. Register HERE.

Even if you are not an expert, you can still participate. Dan will be there to help, but by using the iNaturalist app on your smart phone, you can capture and upload images of plants and animals that you maybe can’t identify, but the iNaturalist community can. Every legit observation counts regardless if whether the observer identifies the plant or animal themselves or not.

Prior to arriving for the hike:

Download the iNaturalist app from the Apple App Store or Google Play on your smart phone. Once that is setup, go into the Projects area in the app and search for and join the “City Nature Challenge 2024: Seattle-Tacoma Metropolitan Area”.

Click on the Download button below to access the list of plants found within the Issaquah Alps as recorded by the Washington Native Plant Society.