Printer-friendlyNew York Natural Heritage Program
Mission:
The New York Natural Heritage Program enables and enhances conservation of New York's rare animals, rare plants, and significant ecosystems. We combine thorough field inventories, scientific analyses, expert interpretation, and the most comprehensive database on New York's distinctive biodiversity to deliver the highest quality information for natural resources planning, protection, and management.
Overview:
NY supports 14
populations of the globally
rare ram's-head ladyslipper
The NY Natural Heritage Program is a partnership between the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (NYS DEC) and The Nature Conservancy. Our mission is to enable and enhance conservation of rare animals, rare plants, and significant natural communities (which are basically different types of forests, wetlands, grasslands, etc.). We accomplish this mission by combining thorough field inventories, scientific analyses, expert interpretation, and the most comprehensive database on New York's distinctive biodiversity to deliver the highest quality information for natural resource planning, protection, and management. NY Natural Heritage was established in 1985 and is a contract unit housed within NYS DEC's Division of Fish, Wildlife, & Marine Resources. The program is staffed by more than 25 scientists and specialists with expertise in ecology, zoology, botany, information management, environmental review, and geographic information systems.
New! Environmental Resource Mapper Displays NY Natural Heritage Data:
The Environmental Resource Mapper is an interactive mapping application that can show you the general areas where rare animals, rare plants, and rare and significant natural communities (such as forests, wetlands, and other habitat types) have been documented by the NY Natural Heritage Program. The Environmental Resource Mapper also displays locations of New York regulated freshwater wetlands and of protected streams, rivers, and lakes. These maps are intended as one source of information for landowners, land managers, citizens, local officials, and project sponsors engaged in land use decision making, conservation, or environmental assessment.
Building and Maintaining the Most Comprehensive Database on New York's Imperiled Biodiversity:
NY Natural Heritage has
been actively studying
federally listed bog turtles in
the Hudson River Valley
NY Natural Heritage maintains New York's most comprehensive database on the status and location of rare species and natural communities. We presently monitor 174 natural community types, 737 rare plant species, 431 rare animal species, and 6 types of animal concentration areas across New York, keeping track of more than 11,500 locations where these species and communities are found. The database also includes detailed information on the relative rareness of each species and community, the quality of their occurrences, and descriptions of sites. The information is used by public agencies, the environmental conservation community, developers, and others to aid in land-use decisions. Our data are essential for prioritizing those species and communities in need of protection and for guiding land-use and land-management decisions where these species and communities exist.
Exploring New York, from Sea-level Salt Marshes to Alpine Meadows:
NY Natural Heritage biologists
work statewide, as in this old
growth forest in western NY
In 1990, NY Natural Heritage published Ecological Communities of New York State, an all inclusive classification of natural and human-influenced communities. A 2002 draft revision of Ecological Communities of New York State is also available. From 40,000-acre beech-maple mesic forests to 40-acre maritime beech forests, salt marshes to alpine meadows, our classification quickly became the primary source for natural community classification in New York and a fundamental reference for natural community classifications in the northeastern United States and southeastern Canada. This classification, which has been continually updated as we gather new field data, has also been incorporated into the National Vegetation Classification that is being developed and refined by NatureServe, The Nature Conservancy, and Natural Heritage Programs throughout the United States (including New York). NY Natural Heritage tracks the known locations of rare natural community types (such as patterned peatlands in the Adirondacks) and the state's best examples of common types (such as shrub swamps).
Placing New York's Species and Ecosystems in Context - From Local to Global:
NY Natural Heritage is an active participant in NatureServe - the international network of biodiversity data centers. There are currently Natural Heritage Programs in all 50 states and several interstate regions. There are also 21 Conservation Data Centers, the international equivalent of Natural Heritage Programs, in Canada, Latin America, and South America. These programs work with NatureServe to develop biodiversity data, maintain compatible standards for data management, and provide information about rare species and natural communities that is consistent across many geographic scales - from ¼-acre wetland sites to the North American continent. NY Natural Heritage's collaboration with NatureServe and other states helps us put our information into a broader context. With NatureServe, we track the rarity of species and natural communities at global and state scales. This allows us to distinguish the conservation priority for an orchid with just four populations in the world with another orchid with four populations in New York but many populations elsewhere. We can also pool our data to look across state and international lines. For example, New York data on rare species and natural communities along Lake Ontario have been combined with similar data from Canada to facilitate analyses of potential consequences of lake-level changes. Our information is also being combined with data from neighboring states to help us understand the significance of our best biodiversity sites relative to similar systems in southeastern Canada, New England, the Mid-Atlantic states, and other Great Lakes states.
Assessing New York's Biodiversity:
1 Presumed extirpated(3%): All known occurrences are gone and there is little chance of finding new populations.
2 Historical(7%): No occurrences have been reported in the last 15 years, but more survey work is needed. These may still be present within NY or they may be extirpated.
3 Critically imperiled(17%): Known at five or fewer locations in the state.
4 Imperiled(9%): Known at just six to 20 locations.
5 Vulnerable(9%): Known at 21 to 100 locations.
6 Believed Secure(55%): Known at more than 100 sites.
NY Natural Heritage data provide a picture of the status of biodiversity in New York. The pie chant above represents all 3,290 plants, natural and human-influenced communities, and vertebrate animals native to New York State. It does not include data regarding invertebrate animals. Although NY Natural Heritage tracks several invertebrate groups (see Data Coverage below), insufficient data are available to make general statements about the status of native invertebrate species. In the pie chant, New York's biodiversity is separated into six categories as illustrated in the accompanying table.
Data Coverage:
The New York Natural Heritage Program surveys and monitors rare animals, rare plants, and significant ecological communities throughout the state. Animals include rare species of all vertebrate groups and selected rare species from the invertebrate groups of butterflies and moths, beetles, dragonflies and damselflies, mayflies, crayfish, land snails, and freshwater mussels. In addition, the program collects data on significant animal concentration areas, including bat hibernacula, anadromous fish, waterfowl, raptors, and nesting areas of terns, herons, and gulls. All rare flowering plants, ferns and fern allies are actively surveyed and monitored. A rare moss list has been developed but the program does not have an active survey program for mosses. Significant ecological communities surveyed include all rare ecological communities as well as the best examples of common communities.
How you can request data:
To obtain information on rare species and ecological communities in New York State, please submit an information request.
How you can contribute data:
To continue building a comprehensive, up-to-date database of information on the locations of rare species and ecological communities in New York State, we invite your contributions. If you have information on a rare species or ecological community, please fill out a Natural Heritage Reporting Form (two-page MS Word document).
Conservation Links of Interest:
The following links bring you to websites outside of DEC's website.
New York Natural Heritage Conservation Guides: Conservation guides are comprehensive fact sheets about individual rare species and natural community types that are designed to help land managers, decision-makers, planners, scientists, consultants, students, and the interested public better understand the biodiversity that characterizes New York. Conservation Guides include information on biology, identification, habitat, distribution, conservation, and management. Guides are completed for many of New York's rare species and natural community types, and more are continually being added to the Guides website.
NatureServe: NatureServe is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing knowledge to protect our natural world. Representing the Natural Heritage network, NatureServe helps protect our environment by improving public understanding of biodiversity and by developing essential information about rare and endangered plants and animals and threatened ecosystems.
Natural Heritage Network: Natural Heritage Programs and Conservation Data Centers are member programs of NatureServe and represent the largest ongoing effort in the western hemisphere to gather standardized data on endangered plants, animals, and ecosystems. The Programs and Centers are found in all 50 U.S. states, 10 Canadian provinces, and 12 countries and territories in Latin America and the Caribbean.
NatureServe Explorer: A source for authoritative conservation information on more than 50,000 plants, animals, and ecological communities of the United States and Canada. NatureServe Explorer provides in-depth information on rare and endangered species, but also includes common plants and animals.
The Nature Conservancy--New York Office: The Nature Conservancy (TNC) is the world's leading private, international conservation group. TNC preserves habitats and species by saving the lands and waters they need to survive.
Biodiversity Research Institute: The New York State Biodiversity Research Institute (BRI) was created during a time of increasing awareness of the urgent need to preserve global and local biodiversity. State Education Law (Section 235-a (2,3)) of 1993 mandated the establishment of the BRI within the New York State Museum to meet these demands. The BRI is funded through the Environmental Protection Fund and includes a number of collaborators, including the Department of Environmental Conservation, the Natural Heritage Program, and the Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation.
More about New York Natural Heritage Program :
- Current Projects - Descriptions of some of the projects the New York Natural Heritage Program is currently working on.
- Rare Plant Information - Botany staff keep track of the status of New York's rare flowering plants, conifers, ferns and fern allies, and mosses.
- Rare Animal Information - Zoology staff survey rare animal species of all vertebrate groups (mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish) and selected rare species from the invertebrate groups of butterflies and moths, beetles, dragonflies and damselflies, mayflies, and freshwater bivalve mollusks. Zoology staff also collect data on significant animal concentration areas.
- Ecological Community Information - Ecology staff assess and delineate New York's natural communities which are variable assemblages of interacting plant and animal populations that share a common environment.
- How to Request NYNHP Data - Instructions on how to request data from the New York Natural Heritage Program.
- Directions to the NYNHP Office - Directions, parking, and office building access information for visiting the New York Natural Heritage Program.
- Staff - An e-mail directory and photo that identifies New York Natural Heritage Program staff.
