About NRCS National Plant Data Center (NPDC)

The NPDC was established to provide vascular and nonvascular plant information to the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), its clients and cooperating agencies. It is affiliated with the Deputy Chief of Science and Technology and the Ecological Sciences Division in Washington, D.C. The NPDC is located on the campus of Southern University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Our role in plant data development is critical to the mission of the NRCS.  This is because of the Agency’s emphasis on ecosystem-based management and the development of automated conservation tools, such as the Customer Tool Kit, Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) database, and VegSpec. Most of the data are maintained in the PLANTS Database and are developed by cooperating scientists located at universities across the U.S.  Cooperative agreements continue to be established with universities, plant science specialists, and organizations to assist our data gathering efforts.

NRCS provides national and international leadership on plant information for the United States and its territories.  The PLANTS Database provides foundation data for other agencies such as the ARS, APHIS, Army, BLM, FSA, Rural Development, EPA, Extension Service, FHA, FWS, FS, NBS, NOAA, NPS, and USGS. The NPDC works proactively with other agencies, particularly through the Integrated Taxonomic Information System, to ensure efficient development of plant data without overlapping effort. This approach reduces costs and enables information exchange between agencies and disciplines.

The PLANTS Database supports conservation activities such as: conservation planning, agronomy, soils, water quality, forestry, wetland restoration, range management, biology, bioengineering, plant materials, national resource inventory, and Farm Bill programs.