Montana Natural Heritage Program Announcements
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Check here for the latest news, information, and announcements about new services at the Montana Natural Heritage Program. |
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Monday, December 12, 2011Slugs and Snails Video
Paul Hendricks, Zoologist with the Montana Natural Heritage Program, is featured in a recent Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks "Montana Outdoors Report" video. The report focuses on Montana's native land mollusks.
View the Montana Outdoors Report about Slugs and Snails
Tuesday, August 30, 2011Powder River Fish and Bug Surveys Video
Most Montana rivers are well known to biologist, but in this outdoor report Winston Greely takes us to one Montana river that is just now being explored. The Montana Natural Heritage Program's survey of fish and bugs on the Powder River is featured in a recent Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Montana Outdoors video.
View the Montana Outdoors Report about the MTNHP Powder River Surveys
Thursday, June 2, 2011Revised Checklist of Montana Vascular Plants
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An updated version of the Checklist of Montana Vascular
Plants is now available. This revised version incorporates hundreds of status and taxonomic
changes made in the past year, as well the addition and deletion of a few species to the list and
the addition of summaries of the number of species by Family and Genus.
View the Checklist of Montana Vascular Plants |
Tuesday, May 17, 2011Next Natural Heritage Program Director Announced
Please welcome Dr. Neil Snow as the new Director of the Montana Natural Heritage Program (MTNHP)
beginning July 1, 2011. Dr. Snow has achieved an international reputation in botany and taxonomy.
He is enthusiastic about leading the program and forging strong working relationships with partner
organizations. Dr. Snow spent many years in Colorado and Wyoming and has strong family ties to
Montana. He is committed to the mission of the MTNHP and to meeting the needs of partners and the
citizens of the state of Montana.
The MTNHP has been well-served by Dr. Bryce Maxell the past 18 months while he served as both Senior
Zoologist and Interim Director. Dr. Maxell’s dedication to the MTNHP is greatly appreciated, and the
zoology program will continue to be strong and robust with him at the helm.
View Dr. Snow's Curriculum Vita
Monday, April 11, 2011Land Management Data in MapViewer
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The Montana Natural Heritage Program recently released a new web application: the Natural Heritage
MapViewer. The MapViewer is an interactive web mapping service that will, over time, enable users to
perform a variety of tasks to access and use MTNHP databases and information. Recently, MTNHP added a new tool set to the MapViewer that enables the display and query of the Montana
Land Management Data. The database depicts four main categories of land management:
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Wednesday, April 6, 2011New Montana Land Cover GIS Map Service
The Montana Natural Heritage Program would like to announce that the MSDI Land Cover Web Map Services
are now available from the Montana
GIS Portal. There are two services: one dynamic and one cached.
This new data set is a Montana-specific land cover layer modified from the Pacific Northwest ReGAP
project classification from 30 meter resolution Landsat imagery. Descriptions of the land cover types
can be found in the Ecological Systems Field
Guide.
For more information search the
Montana GIS Portal for “msdi land cover map service”.
Note: When adding this service directly in ArcGIS as an ArcGIS Server, omit "rest/"
from the URL so that it reads:
http://gisportal.msl.mt.gov/arcgis/services/BaseMaps
Monday, March 21, 2011New Montana Land Cover GIS Data
The Montana Natural Heritage Program would like to announce that the MSDI Land Cover layer is now available for download from the Montana GIS Portal. This is a Montana-specific land cover layer modified from the Pacific Northwest ReGAP project classification from 30 meter resolution Landsat imagery. For more information search the Montana GIS Portal for “msdi land cover”. Descriptions of the land cover types can be found in the Ecological Systems Field Guide.
Thursday, January 20, 201110 Years of SWG Grants
This year marks 10 years of the State Wildlife Grant Program (SWG), federal funds distributed to states for surveys and management of nongame species. This national program is intended to prevent wildlife from becoming threatened or endangered and has greatly expanded our understanding of the distribution and status of a number of species in Montana.
Monday, November 22, 2010Natural Heritage Program Webinars
The Montana Natural Heritage Program is pleased to announce a series of
webinars this winter to
help our users make better use of our information and web services. To find
out more or to register for one of the
webinars, please email the instructor listed below with the webinar title and date
you wish to attend.
All session are free and will run approximately one hour.
As of now, all webinars will use Go To
Meeting webinar software. Audio will be handled via conference call.
The conference call ID and phone number, instructions for installing the software and joining
the meeting will be emailed to participants prior to the session.
Read more on the Webinar web page
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Title: Overview of MT Natural Heritage Program Data Resources
Date: Tuesday January 25, 1-2 p.m.
Instructor: Bryce Maxell, bmaxell@mt.gov
Participant Limit: None
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Title: Wetland Data Resources
Date: Tuesday February 15, 1-2 p.m.
Instructor: Linda Vance, livance@mt.gov
Participant Limit: None
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Title: Introduction to the New Natural Heritage MapViewer for landcover and land management information
Date: Tuesday February 22, 1-2 p.m.
Instructor: Allan Cox, acox@mt.gov
Participant Limit: 25
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Title: Using the Natural Heritage Tracker to access animal and plant data, and to enter animal observations
Date: Wednesday March 2, 1-2 p.m.
Instructor: Allan Cox, acox@mt.gov
Participant Limit: 25
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Title: Using the Natural Heritage Tracker to access animal and plant data, and to enter animal observations
Date: Thursday March 3, 1-2 p.m.
Instructor: Allan Cox, acox@mt.gov
Participant Limit: 25 ** Please note: This session is available only to state and federal agencies.
Thursday, September 30, 2010New Natural Heritage MapViewer
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The Montana Natural Heritage Program recently released a new web application: the Natural Heritage
MapViewer. The MapViewer is an interactive web mapping service that will, over time, enable users
to perform a variety of tasks to access and use MTNHP databases and information. This first release
includes tools to view and query the new Montana landcover data with ties-ins to the
Ecological Systems Field Guide, and
tools to access and view over 12,000 geo-reference habitat photos for Montana.
Try the NEW Natural Heritage MapViewer |
Monday, September 20, 2010Montana Reference Wetland Network
In 2008, the Montana Natural Heritage Program was awarded an EPA Wetland Program Development Grant
to develop a statewide network of herbaceous reference wetlands. The project focused on Montana's
herbaceous wetland ecological systems.
At each site, we conducted a Level 2 rapid assessment that
evaluates the general ecological condition of individual wetlands using field indicators and
identifies specific stressors that correlate with wetland condition. At a subsample of wetlands,
we also conducted Level 3 intensive vegetation assessments to gather quantitative data that can be
used to validate rapid wetland assessments, characterize wetland condition, and diagnose causes of
degradation. Wetland assessments were conducted during the summer of 2008 and 2009.
View the Montana Wetland Reference Network Web Page
Wednesday, September 8, 2010Updated Land Stewardship Maps
The Montana Natural Heritage Program has released the 2010 version of its Land Stewardship Maps. These maps
are produced from its Land Stewardship Mapping database. The 102 maps are based on the US Geological Survey
1:100,000 scale topographic map series and use those boundaries as the indexing tiles.
The maps depict four main categories of land management:
- Public Lands
- Conservation Easements
- Special designated lands such as wildlife refuges, Research Natural Areas, wilderness, etc.
- Lands owned by land trusts or other private conservation oriented entities.
All maps are provided in Adobe PDF format. The maps are designed to be printed at a size of 36 by 30 inches on a large format printer.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010Mussel Relocation Video
You might have heard a lot about the "Bad" Aquatic Mussels trying to come into Montana, but in this Fish, Wildlife and Parks Outdoor Report, Winston Greely shows us how Wildlife Managers are helping our "Good" native mussels. The Montana Natural Heritage Program's Aquatic Ecologist, Dave Stagliano, is featured in the video.
Friday, August 6, 2010New Conservation Easement Information and Web Map
The Montana Natural Heritage Program has released updated Conservation Easement data for 2010 and created an on-line interactive map to display the easement information. The easements are part of the Montana Land Stewardship Mapping Program the MTNHP maintains. In addition to the conservation easements, other information, including the managed areas data were updated.
Wednesday, July 28, 20102010 - 2014 Draft Strategic Plan Now Available
The Montana Natural Heritage Program has posted its 2010 to 2014 Draft Strategic Plan. This draft plan has been developed by staff and program managers and covers major goals and objectives for the Botany, Zoology, Ecology, and Information Services programs between July 2010 and June 2014.
View the 2010-2014 Draft Strategic Plan
Thursday, July 8, 2010Wetlands Data and Maps Now Available
The Montana Natural Heritage Program is excited to announce the availability of new wetlands data and maps for Montana. New maps of the wetland and riparian areas are now available for downloading from the Wetlands and Riparian Mapping Center. You may also view the progress status of the wetland mapping as well as download GIS wetlands data.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010Montana Mussels Poster Now Available
The Montana Natural Heritage Program is pleased to announce the release of the "Mussels of Montana" poster. This poster summarizes available knowledge of freshwater mussels in Montana from the last three years of surveys and data collection. Read more...
View a PDF of the Poster
Monday, June 21, 2010Milk Marias Wetlands Assessment
In 2008, the MTNHP was awarded an EPA Wetland Program Development Grant to develop a long term rotating basin wetland monitoring and assessment program. The pilot project for the rotating basin assessment program took place in the Milk and the Marias watersheds located in north central Montana. A simple map and data retrieval web site was developed to provide access to the results.
View the Milk Marias Wetlands Assessment Web Site
Tuesday, March 9, 2010The Checklist of Montana Dragonflies & Damselflies
The Montana Natural Heritage Program (MTNHP) and Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks (MTFWP) are pleased to announce The Checklist of Montana Dragonflies & Damselflies brochure. With 53 dragonfly species and 29 damselfly species included, this checklist represents the most current information available for Odonates in the state. This checklist provides information on distribution, abundance and seasonal occurrence for each species. Hard copies of this brochure are available, free to the public, at the MTNHP office within the Montana State Library, as well as at the MTFWP HQ office in Helena. A digital version can be downloaded from the MTNHP web site at the link below.
View the Checklist of Montana Dragonflies & Damselflies
Thursday, February 18, 2010MTNHP Annual Report for 2009
The Montana Natural Heritage Program is pleased to announce the publication of its 2009 Annual Report. The report summarizes program activities, data products, and data delivery highlights during the 2009 calendar year.
View the MTNHP 2009 Annual Report
Tuesday, February 2, 2010Checklist of Montana Vascular Plants
The Montana Natural Heritage Program is pleased to announce the publication of A Checklist of Montana Vascular Plants. This initial list comprises over 2,500 species reported for the state of Montana and it is expected to be updated periodically as new information becomes available.
View the New Checklist of Montana Vascular Plants
Wednesday, January 27, 2010Outdoor Bat Detection Video
The Montana Natural Heritage Program's bat detection work is featured in a recent Montana Outdoors Report.
View the video on the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks website.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010Data Services Survey
The Montana Natural Heritage Program is conducting a short survey of individuals who have recently received Species of Concern project reviews or data transfers from the Program. The survey is intended to gather basic information on the value and quality of the information and services you recently received. It is short and should not take more than a few minutes to complete.
Thursday, November 12, 2009New Species of Concern Report
The Montana Natural Heritage Program is pleased to announce a new Species of Concern (SOC) Report. This new on-line report replaces our previous Species of Concern web search as well as the printed Species of Concern reports.
The new reports provide:
- All of the narrative information found in the printed reports.
- Up-to-date status information for SOC species.
- Lists of species additions and deletions over time.
- Enhanced search and filtering functions for generating custom reports.
- Ability to save and print reports to an Adobe PDF file.
- Additional information for the species including documented county occurrences, habitats for animals, and additional status information for plants and birds.
Please Note: This new report is optimized for MS Windows Internet Explorer 8, Google Chrome, and FireFox. There is a known issue that may cause a slower response in Internet Explorer 6 and 7.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009New Maps & Charts in the Montana Field Guide
We recently added new maps and charts to the species accounts in the Montana Field Guide. Check out the Greater Sage Grouse example to see the new maps and charts.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009Celebrating Sue Crispin's Service
Today we’re celebrating and honoring Sue Crispin's 29 years of service with The Nature Conservancy and the NatureServe / Heritage Network. Read more about Sue here.
