By Bill Cook, Ohio Chapter Volunteer

NatureServe (www.natureserve.org) is a non-profit conservation organization that provides scientific information and tools needed to help guide effective conservation action. NatureServe and its network of Natural Heritage programs are the leading source for information about rare and endangered species and threatened ecosystems.

NatureServe represents an international network of biological inventories,
known as Natural Heritage programs or conservation data centers, operating in all 50 U.S. states, Canada, Latin America and even the Caribbean. Together they collect and manage detailed local information on plants, animals and ecosystems. They also develop information products, data management tools and conservation services to help meet local, national and global conservation needs. The objective scientific information about species and ecosystems developed by NatureServe is used by all sectors of society: conservation groups, government agencies, corporations, academia and the public to make decisions about managing natural resources. The core activities of the organization entail the following:

• helping establish standards for managing biological inventories and biodiversity data;
• developing databases on at-risk species and ecological communities;
• designing advanced data management systems in partnership with information technology leaders;
• making biodiversity information available to the public through the NatureServe.org website, publications and services customized for clients and partners;
• providing information products and conservation services to guide natural resource decision-making.

One of the NatureServe’s core products, NatureServe Explorer, serves as an excellent example of the group’s work. NatureServe Explorer represents their first generation of Web-based data access tools and for the first time provides public access to virtually all of their information about species and ecosystems. Through the NatureServe Explorer website, users can query a central database by any combination of scientific or common name, taxonomic group, conservation or legal status and geography. For example, quickly searching for “red fox” allows the user to see a map that displays the distribution of the animal on a state-by-state basis.

NatureServe carries on a legacy of conservation work that began when The Nature Conservancy helped to establish the first state Natural Heritage program in 1974. Over the next two decades The Nature Conservancy and a collection of public and private partners built a network of Natural Heritage programs in the United States to collect and manage data about the status and distribution of species and ecosystems of conservation concern.

As this network expanded to include Canada and Latin America, Natural Heritage programs became the recognized source for the most complete and detailed information on rare and endangered species and threatened ecosystems, relied upon by government agencies, corporations and the conservation community alike. Today the NatureServe network includes 74 independent Natural Heritage programs and conservation data centers throughout the Western Hemisphere, with some 800 dedicated scientists and a collective annual budget of more than $45 million.

NatureServe, the membership organization for this network, was established in 1994 and was originally known as the Association for Biodiversity Information. By 2001, the organization had grown and evolved into its present form. The Nature Conservancy, which since the 1970s had provided scientific and technical support to the network, transferred this role to NatureServe, along with professional staff, databases and responsibility for the scientific standards and procedures under which the network operates. NatureServe is headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, with field offices in the U.S and Canada.

NatureServe works in close partnership with The Nature Conservancy and continues the Conservancy's long tradition of science-based conservation. Although new as an organization, NatureServe's expertise, databases, standards and tools thus incorporate more than a quarter-century of experience with the natural heritage methodology developed under the auspices of the Conservancy. One of the first products of the collaboration between NatureServe and the Conservancy was the book-length study, Precious Heritage: The Status of Biodiversity in the United States, published in 2000.

NatureServe and the Conservancy are currently working together on a number of projects, including the development of an ecological systems classification, systems for managing biodiversity information and ecoregional planning. The Conservancy also provides substantial ongoing logistical and financial support.