Nearly 10,000 occurrences of over 1600 natural heritage resource elements are documented in Virginia. A searchable database on the Internet allows users to produce lists of resources that occur in specific counties, watersheds or physiographic regions. You can search for information on individual or groups of resources, by scientific or common name, taxonomic group, federal or state legal status, global or state rarity rank.
All searches return HTML formatted lists including the scientific/common names, taxonomic group, global and state heritage rarity ranks, federal legal status under the U.S. Endangered Species Act, and Virginia state legal status. These reports are not site specific and are NOT to be substituted for a project review or for on-site surveys required for environmental assessments of specific project areas.
Additionally, scientific names are hotlinked to NatureServe Explorer to provide more detailed species information.
NatureServe Explorer is a product of NatureServe, in collaboration with the Natural Heritage Network. A source for conservation information on more than 50,000 plants, animals, and ecological communities of the United States and Canada, NatureServe provides in-depth information on rare and endangered species, as well as common plants and animals.
Species/Natural
Community Query
Search for a specific species, taxonomic group or natural community. The results will be sorted by taxonomic group. Output also includes total number of known occurrences
statewide of each natural heritage resource.
County Query
Search for natural heritage resources in a county. If no county is selected, or more than one county is checked the results will
be sorted and grouped by county, then taxonomic group. Output also includes last known observed
date for each natural heritage resource.
Physiographic
province Query
Search for natural heritage resources in a physiographic province. If no province is selected, or more than one is checked the results
will be sorted and grouped by province, then by taxonomic group. Output also includes the total number of known occurrences statewide for each natural heritage resource.
Watershed
Query (USGS 8 digit watershed)
Search for natural heritage resources in a watershed. If no watershed is selected, or more than one
is checked the results will be sorted and grouped by watershed then by taxonomic group. Output also includes the total number of known occurrences statewide for each natural heritage resource.
Subwatershed
Query (14 digit watershed)
Search for natural heritage resources in a subwatershed. If no subwatershed is selected, or more than one is
checked the results will be sorted and grouped by subwatershed then by taxonomic group. Output also includes the total number of known occurrences statewide for each natural heritage resource.
