02-10-1997 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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Natural Heritage Database Print-outs: An Explanation of Selected Fields The Natural Heritage database is maintained by the Natural Heritage and Nongame Wildlife Research Program, a unit within the Section of Ecological Services, Department of Natural Resources. It is the most complete source of data on Minnesota's rare, endangered, or otherwise significant plant and animal species, plant coiranunities, amd other natural features, and is used in fostering better understanding and protection of these rare features. The information in the database is drawn from many parts of Minnesota, and is constantly being updated, but it is not based on a comprehensive survey of the state. Therefore, there are currently many significant natural features present in the state which are not represented by the database. We are in the process of addressing this problem via the Minnesota County Biological Survey, a county-by county inventory of rare natural features, which is now underway. Please note that the print-outs are copyrighted and cannot be reproduced without penoission. Full Record Printout (compressed version) Some users of Natural Heritage database information are interested in more detailed information about the individual occurrences of rare features than is provided by an index. The full record printout (compressed version) is designed to include additional fields from the database that are likely to be most relevant to users. Your full record print-out has been sorted geographically by township, range and section, to nuiintain tiie same order as the records in your index. In the full record printout, tlie first line of each record contains the element name ("ename"), the common name for plants and animals, and the occurrence number. Again, the ename and the occurrence number are the cross reference with the index. Other fields are defined below. Region: References the 6 DNR regions in Llie state. State Status: Minnesota legal status of plant and animal species under the State Endangered Species Law. Status categories include Endangered, Threatened, Special Concern and No Legal Status (rare but not listed in the state). This field is blank for natural communities and colonial waterbird nesting sites, which have no legal status in Minnesota, but are tracked by the database. Federal Status: This field appears only for plant or animal species that have legal status under the Federal Endangered Species Law - Endangered, Threatened, and Candidate (species which are candidates for listing due to sufficient information on biological vulnerability and threat(s), but which have not yet been officially designated as endangered or threatened. 4 j