Signup Post: Nature Challenges in 2026
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goals_on_dwThere are all kinds of nature challenges and goals that people like to do. Some are individual, others are group events. Some are all year, others shorter. Some have activist themes, others are ordinary. They span a great many different formats including but not limited to art en plein air, birdwatching, environmental projects, gardening, nature writing, outdoor activities, and spending time in nature. Here are some for your inspiration. On Dreamwidth, see birdfeeding, common_nature, gardening, and other Nature communities.
You can pick whichever challenge(s) you want to set as a goal in 2026 and reply with a comment. Below the list of challenges is a short form for listing which you have chosen. Make a post in your blog like "I signed up for the Nature challenge ingoals_on_dw" -- or list the specific challenge if you're doing an official one somewhere else instead of a personal one here. Then make a tag for it like "Nature Challenge" and put that on the post; it should stick that way. Check your Interests page to see if you have Birdwatching, Environment, Gardening, Nature, Outdoors, Wildlife, etc. listed there, which helps people find you. You don't have to sign up to participate, it just helps spread the word and attract more readers.
There is a Bingo Card Generator if you want to make your own using premade lists or whatever prompts you want to paste in. Various sizes and styles are available.
See also the Arts and Crafts, Community Thursdays, Fannish 50, Reading, and Writing challenges. If you want to write a naturalist's guide to an exoplanet, grow a Hobbit garden, paint the architecture of an alien arboretum, or review every nature book you read all year, go for it. You can even double-count anything that applies to two or more goals, e.g.inkingitout and 1000 Hours Outside.
Do you know of any other nature challenges in 2026? Share a link so they can be added to the list of options.
Challenges
* 2026 Birding Goals -- Bird Forum
* 2026 City Nature Challenge
Cities around the world collaborate to share observations of nature in the 2026 City Nature Challenge. The registration deadline for new cities is January 30, 2026. Check the list of participating cities to see if yours is there. Become a local organizer.
* 9 Sustainable New Years Resolutions -- One Tree Planted
With the year coming to a close, this is a good time to reflect on the energy and intention that you'd like to bring into the new year. It's a great opportunity to take stock of your daily habits—and think about how you can be more sustainable over the next 12 months.
A word of advice? Keep it simple. Your resolutions don't need to be grand to be impactful. Just like a carefully planted tree, the seeds you sow today, with patience and consistency, can grow into something larger and more meaningful than you might imagine.
* 10 New Year’s Camping Resolutions to Keep All Year (2024)
* 12 New Year's Resolutions for Gardeners in 2026 -- Garden Design
* 52 Hike Challenge Original Series
GOAL: GET OUTDOORS ONCE A WEEK FOR A YEAR OR 52 TIMES WITHIN A 52 WEEK PERIOD. YOU CAN START ANY TIME IN THE YEAR AND YOU HAVE 52 WEEKS TO COMPLETE THE CHALLENGE FROM THE DAY YOU GO ON YOUR FIRST HIKE. THE CHALLENGE IS SELF-DIRECTED, WHICH MEANS YOU PLAN OUT YOUR HIKES AND LOG THEM FOR YOURSELF.
If this is a bit much for you, consider a monthly or seasonal goal instead of all year.
* 1000 Hours Outside Challenge
This is simply a goal of spending 1000 hours outside during the year, in any combination, doing anything. For tips, see "HOW NOT TO FAIL THE 1000 HOURS OUTSIDE CHALLENGE." There is an app and a variety of paper trackers available. For more printables, see Challenges by Numbers. If you want more detail, use the bullet journaling technique of creating a color or symbol key for filling in slots; for instance, you might mark camping hours in brown, swimming in blue; or gardening with leaf stickers, birdwatching with bird stickers. 1000 hours is a big commitment. If that's too much for you, consider choosing a different number for the yearly goal, or perhaps a seasonal or monthly goal instead of a whole year.
1000 Hours Outside dots
1000 Hours Outside grid with mountains
1000 Hours Outside plain grid
1000 Hours Outside round mandala
1000 Hours Outside tree rings
* Become a birdwatcher.
Bird Behavior Bingo
Bird Watch Bingo (pictures with labels)
Generate a birdwatching bingo card
* Best Hiking Challenges for Hikers in 2026 -- Hiking Daily
These aren’t your typical New Year’s resolutions! As outdoor enthusiasts, our goals often involve a mixture of consistency, exploration of new terrain, and pushing past our perceived limits.
* Camping Bingo (customizable)
* Fun in the Forest Bingo (pictures)
* Garden Bingo Card (pictures with labels)
* Garden Chores for All USDA Growing Zones -- Sow True Seeds
Lists are available by USDA Growing Zone or by month. You can use these to set gardening goals within a mixed goal list, or to create a month-by-month checklist with a garden theme.
* Garden Scavenger Bingo Card (text)
* Grow landrace crops and/or start a landrace of your own. A landrace is a genetically diverse variety of a crop that has adapted to local conditions.
The Buffalo Seed Company
MIDWEST GROWN SEEDS
CROP HEIRLOOMS & LANDRACES, MEDICINALS, & WILD NATIVES GROWN IN SYNC WITH THE EARTH
Landrace Seeds -- Vibrant Earth Seeds
Landraces and Breeding Stock -- Experimental Farm Network
"Landrace Gardening: Saving Landrace Seeds" by Joseph Lofthouse
* Hold a swap meet for seeds, plants, bulbs, produce, garden tools, or other things.
* Make a terrarium. This is a great goal for people with small space or no yard.
* Nature Book Club: Readings for 2026 -- Abbott Marshlands
* Nature Walk Bingo Card (text)
* New Year, New Ride: Cycling Resolutions for 2026
Whether you’re a seasoned road rider, an enthusiastic commuter, or someone who simply loves exploring the city on two wheels, the start of a new year is the perfect time to refresh your goals and bring renewed energy to your riding routine.
* From Pledges to Performance: The 2026 Guide to Nature-Positive Transformation
Ideas for corporations, organizations, and other groups.
* Plant a garden. Read more about it.
A climate resilient garden prepares for harsh and unpredictable conditions. Many areas are getting hotter and drier, so consider dryland plants and crop cultivars that need little or no supplemental watering. Landraces will adapt to whatever your local conditions are.
Containers work for small spaces, tender plants that need to overwinter indoors, and those that need different growing conditions than your local soil.
Deck, patio, balcony and other small spaces require different techniques than a larger yard but still have great potential.
A drought resistant garden uses xericulture techniques and plants that need little or no extra water. Here's a handbook for Los Angeles county. In most places, native plants will do well for this purpose.
Hugelkultur beds have a deadwood core with a soil coating. Because they typically rise above the ground, they are ideal for areas with poor drainage and/or flooding.
A lasagna garden uses layers to create a growing space. It's another option good for wet places, or if you have soil that is too hard to dig.
Permaculture gardening relies on basic principles to create a miniature ecosystem where plants support each other. Here is a permaculture handbook. This one covers guilds; planting a single guild is a great way to start. Here are more guilds plus vegetable polycultures.
Pollinator gardens support bees, butterflies, hummingbirds, and so on. Choose most or all native plants as pollinators rely on those; find a plant list for your region. Here are some different designs.
Native plants make a great garden because they need little to no care or supplemental watering once established, stand up to local challenges, and attract lots of wildlife. Shop native plants by state or region. Are you worried about your climate changing? You might try native plants from the next zone in the direction of change, in most places the next warmer.
Rain gardens catch water so it soaks in slowly instead of running off to cause trouble. They use plants that can handle wide variations in moisture from submerged to dry.
Vegetable gardens offer many delightful things to eat, and can be grown in different ways. Don't be afraid to try some unusual heirlooms or even weirder plants.
Wildlife gardens provide habitat for small mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, insects, and other creatures. Here is a wildlife gardening handbook. Useful features that make a great day or weekend project include birdbaths, brush piles, feeders, hibernacula, houses, and wildlife ponds.
* Pledge to Plant -- Project Food Forest
You can strengthen food security for your family and your community with the power of planting. Plant as little as one fruit or nut tree and watch as the miracle of nature’s bounty nourishes your home and your neighborhood. Once your plants are producing, you can even share your bounty!
A solitary mulched fruit tree can do the trick, but we recommend planting communities of plants around your trees to support them. Pick from one of our predesigned guilds below created for planting zone 4, or design your own.
* PleinAirpril
Each year I partake in a month-long challenge called “Plein Air April” (shortened to #PleinAirpril on social media) -– painting outside every day during April. Combining my loving for plein air with the excitement of spring is the perfect way to shake off the winter cobwebs and start the plein air season right!
* Set up a plant window to bring nature indoors.
* Setting Resolutions for Your Best Cycling Event Year Yet
As the new year approaches, it’s time to reflect on your cycling journey and set fresh goals for 2025. Whether you’re a veteran event rider or gearing up for your first big race, a little planning can help you make the most of the year ahead. Here’s how to set meaningful resolutions and prepare for a successful cycling season.
* Start 2026 with a 'First Day Hike' at Virginia State Parks
Start 2026 Strong With a Texas State Park First Day Hike
Or any park near you.
* Start a compost pile.
* Start a food forest. This type of edible landscaping grows many kinds of food in diverse layers. You can also harvest other things such as craft materials. Some towns create a community food forest. Here is a food forest handbook. For a simple start, add edible plants under a fruit, nut, or other tree you already have.
* Step Into Nature: Outdoor Resolutions for the New Year -- National Park Trust
* Sustainable Development: The 17 Goals -- United Nations
These suggest areas to target for individual or group goals. If your company, club, or other organization sets annual goals, then consider suggesting one of these themes. Several relate closely to nature:
Goal 6: Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.
Goal 13: Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts.
Goal 14: Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development.
Goal 15: Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss.
* Top Hunting and Fishing Resolutions for 2026 -- West Virginia Department of Natural Resources
Options for Beginner, Advanced, and Everyone.
birdfeeding, common_nature, gardening, and other Nature communities.You can pick whichever challenge(s) you want to set as a goal in 2026 and reply with a comment. Below the list of challenges is a short form for listing which you have chosen. Make a post in your blog like "I signed up for the Nature challenge in
goals_on_dw" -- or list the specific challenge if you're doing an official one somewhere else instead of a personal one here. Then make a tag for it like "Nature Challenge" and put that on the post; it should stick that way. Check your Interests page to see if you have Birdwatching, Environment, Gardening, Nature, Outdoors, Wildlife, etc. listed there, which helps people find you. You don't have to sign up to participate, it just helps spread the word and attract more readers.There is a Bingo Card Generator if you want to make your own using premade lists or whatever prompts you want to paste in. Various sizes and styles are available.
See also the Arts and Crafts, Community Thursdays, Fannish 50, Reading, and Writing challenges. If you want to write a naturalist's guide to an exoplanet, grow a Hobbit garden, paint the architecture of an alien arboretum, or review every nature book you read all year, go for it. You can even double-count anything that applies to two or more goals, e.g.
inkingitout and 1000 Hours Outside.Do you know of any other nature challenges in 2026? Share a link so they can be added to the list of options.
Challenges
* 2026 Birding Goals -- Bird Forum
* 2026 City Nature Challenge
Cities around the world collaborate to share observations of nature in the 2026 City Nature Challenge. The registration deadline for new cities is January 30, 2026. Check the list of participating cities to see if yours is there. Become a local organizer.
* 9 Sustainable New Years Resolutions -- One Tree Planted
With the year coming to a close, this is a good time to reflect on the energy and intention that you'd like to bring into the new year. It's a great opportunity to take stock of your daily habits—and think about how you can be more sustainable over the next 12 months.
A word of advice? Keep it simple. Your resolutions don't need to be grand to be impactful. Just like a carefully planted tree, the seeds you sow today, with patience and consistency, can grow into something larger and more meaningful than you might imagine.
* 10 New Year’s Camping Resolutions to Keep All Year (2024)
* 12 New Year's Resolutions for Gardeners in 2026 -- Garden Design
* 52 Hike Challenge Original Series
GOAL: GET OUTDOORS ONCE A WEEK FOR A YEAR OR 52 TIMES WITHIN A 52 WEEK PERIOD. YOU CAN START ANY TIME IN THE YEAR AND YOU HAVE 52 WEEKS TO COMPLETE THE CHALLENGE FROM THE DAY YOU GO ON YOUR FIRST HIKE. THE CHALLENGE IS SELF-DIRECTED, WHICH MEANS YOU PLAN OUT YOUR HIKES AND LOG THEM FOR YOURSELF.
If this is a bit much for you, consider a monthly or seasonal goal instead of all year.
* 1000 Hours Outside Challenge
This is simply a goal of spending 1000 hours outside during the year, in any combination, doing anything. For tips, see "HOW NOT TO FAIL THE 1000 HOURS OUTSIDE CHALLENGE." There is an app and a variety of paper trackers available. For more printables, see Challenges by Numbers. If you want more detail, use the bullet journaling technique of creating a color or symbol key for filling in slots; for instance, you might mark camping hours in brown, swimming in blue; or gardening with leaf stickers, birdwatching with bird stickers. 1000 hours is a big commitment. If that's too much for you, consider choosing a different number for the yearly goal, or perhaps a seasonal or monthly goal instead of a whole year.
1000 Hours Outside dots
1000 Hours Outside grid with mountains
1000 Hours Outside plain grid
1000 Hours Outside round mandala
1000 Hours Outside tree rings
* Become a birdwatcher.
Bird Behavior Bingo
Bird Watch Bingo (pictures with labels)
Generate a birdwatching bingo card
* Best Hiking Challenges for Hikers in 2026 -- Hiking Daily
These aren’t your typical New Year’s resolutions! As outdoor enthusiasts, our goals often involve a mixture of consistency, exploration of new terrain, and pushing past our perceived limits.
* Camping Bingo (customizable)
* Fun in the Forest Bingo (pictures)
* Garden Bingo Card (pictures with labels)
* Garden Chores for All USDA Growing Zones -- Sow True Seeds
Lists are available by USDA Growing Zone or by month. You can use these to set gardening goals within a mixed goal list, or to create a month-by-month checklist with a garden theme.
* Garden Scavenger Bingo Card (text)
* Grow landrace crops and/or start a landrace of your own. A landrace is a genetically diverse variety of a crop that has adapted to local conditions.
The Buffalo Seed Company
MIDWEST GROWN SEEDS
CROP HEIRLOOMS & LANDRACES, MEDICINALS, & WILD NATIVES GROWN IN SYNC WITH THE EARTH
Landrace Seeds -- Vibrant Earth Seeds
Landraces and Breeding Stock -- Experimental Farm Network
"Landrace Gardening: Saving Landrace Seeds" by Joseph Lofthouse
* Hold a swap meet for seeds, plants, bulbs, produce, garden tools, or other things.
* Make a terrarium. This is a great goal for people with small space or no yard.
* Nature Book Club: Readings for 2026 -- Abbott Marshlands
* Nature Walk Bingo Card (text)
* New Year, New Ride: Cycling Resolutions for 2026
Whether you’re a seasoned road rider, an enthusiastic commuter, or someone who simply loves exploring the city on two wheels, the start of a new year is the perfect time to refresh your goals and bring renewed energy to your riding routine.
* From Pledges to Performance: The 2026 Guide to Nature-Positive Transformation
Ideas for corporations, organizations, and other groups.
* Plant a garden. Read more about it.
A climate resilient garden prepares for harsh and unpredictable conditions. Many areas are getting hotter and drier, so consider dryland plants and crop cultivars that need little or no supplemental watering. Landraces will adapt to whatever your local conditions are.
Containers work for small spaces, tender plants that need to overwinter indoors, and those that need different growing conditions than your local soil.
Deck, patio, balcony and other small spaces require different techniques than a larger yard but still have great potential.
A drought resistant garden uses xericulture techniques and plants that need little or no extra water. Here's a handbook for Los Angeles county. In most places, native plants will do well for this purpose.
Hugelkultur beds have a deadwood core with a soil coating. Because they typically rise above the ground, they are ideal for areas with poor drainage and/or flooding.
A lasagna garden uses layers to create a growing space. It's another option good for wet places, or if you have soil that is too hard to dig.
Permaculture gardening relies on basic principles to create a miniature ecosystem where plants support each other. Here is a permaculture handbook. This one covers guilds; planting a single guild is a great way to start. Here are more guilds plus vegetable polycultures.
Pollinator gardens support bees, butterflies, hummingbirds, and so on. Choose most or all native plants as pollinators rely on those; find a plant list for your region. Here are some different designs.
Native plants make a great garden because they need little to no care or supplemental watering once established, stand up to local challenges, and attract lots of wildlife. Shop native plants by state or region. Are you worried about your climate changing? You might try native plants from the next zone in the direction of change, in most places the next warmer.
Rain gardens catch water so it soaks in slowly instead of running off to cause trouble. They use plants that can handle wide variations in moisture from submerged to dry.
Vegetable gardens offer many delightful things to eat, and can be grown in different ways. Don't be afraid to try some unusual heirlooms or even weirder plants.
Wildlife gardens provide habitat for small mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, insects, and other creatures. Here is a wildlife gardening handbook. Useful features that make a great day or weekend project include birdbaths, brush piles, feeders, hibernacula, houses, and wildlife ponds.
* Pledge to Plant -- Project Food Forest
You can strengthen food security for your family and your community with the power of planting. Plant as little as one fruit or nut tree and watch as the miracle of nature’s bounty nourishes your home and your neighborhood. Once your plants are producing, you can even share your bounty!
A solitary mulched fruit tree can do the trick, but we recommend planting communities of plants around your trees to support them. Pick from one of our predesigned guilds below created for planting zone 4, or design your own.
* PleinAirpril
Each year I partake in a month-long challenge called “Plein Air April” (shortened to #PleinAirpril on social media) -– painting outside every day during April. Combining my loving for plein air with the excitement of spring is the perfect way to shake off the winter cobwebs and start the plein air season right!
* Set up a plant window to bring nature indoors.
* Setting Resolutions for Your Best Cycling Event Year Yet
As the new year approaches, it’s time to reflect on your cycling journey and set fresh goals for 2025. Whether you’re a veteran event rider or gearing up for your first big race, a little planning can help you make the most of the year ahead. Here’s how to set meaningful resolutions and prepare for a successful cycling season.
* Start 2026 with a 'First Day Hike' at Virginia State Parks
Start 2026 Strong With a Texas State Park First Day Hike
Or any park near you.
* Start a compost pile.
* Start a food forest. This type of edible landscaping grows many kinds of food in diverse layers. You can also harvest other things such as craft materials. Some towns create a community food forest. Here is a food forest handbook. For a simple start, add edible plants under a fruit, nut, or other tree you already have.
* Step Into Nature: Outdoor Resolutions for the New Year -- National Park Trust
* Sustainable Development: The 17 Goals -- United Nations
These suggest areas to target for individual or group goals. If your company, club, or other organization sets annual goals, then consider suggesting one of these themes. Several relate closely to nature:
Goal 6: Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.
Goal 13: Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts.
Goal 14: Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development.
Goal 15: Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss.
* Top Hunting and Fishing Resolutions for 2026 -- West Virginia Department of Natural Resources
Options for Beginner, Advanced, and Everyone.
