Administrative History
The State Natural Heritage Programs is a public/private partnership between the scientific community and state and federal governments. There are ninety-eight Heritage Programs, sometimes known as Conservation Data Centers, covering all fifty United States, the Navajo Nation, Canada, Latin America, and Caribbean countries. Most United States heritage programs are affiliated with state government agencies, universities, and, in some cases, the Nature Conservancy's state offices.
The first state natural heritage program was established in South Carolina in 1974. Nature Conservancy scientists developed a standardized methodology for collecting and organizing ecological data marking the first instance of tracking ecology by element, or a discrete plant, animal, or natural community, rather than solely by location. The network of heritage programs and conservation data centers created the Association for Biodiversity Information (ABI), known today as NatureServe, to act as a cohesive organization for the purposes of setting policies for data dissemination and exchange, producing joint reports, and determining future systems design. While formal management of the State Natural Heritage Programs network has been transferred from the Nature Conservancy to NatureServe, the Nature Conservancy supports heritage programs by providing training, technical support, computer software, technology transfer, standard methodologies, compatible ecological classifications, and mapping technologies.
The network database, to which all heritage programs contribute, identifies rare and threatened species, natural communities, and ecosystems in need of protection at the local, regional, national, and global levels. In addition, the network tracks the quality and condition of each occurrence of a community. By using standardized methods, heritage programs can exchange and analyze information across geographical and political boundaries or jurisdictions. The result is a comprehensive database that serves as a source of information on biodiversity.