Natural Heritage Inventory Program

The Wisconsin Natural Heritage Inventory (NHI) program is part of an international network of NHI programs. This network was established by The Nature Conservancy and is currently coordinated by NatureServe (exit DNR), an international non-profit organization. All NHI programs use a standard methodology for collecting, characterizing, and managing data, making it possible to combine data at various scales to address local, state, regional, and national issues. NHI programs focus on locating and documenting occurrences of rare species and natural communities, including state and federal endangered and threatened species. Species and natural communities tracked by the Wisconsin NHI Program can be found on the NHI Working List.

The Wisconsin NHI Program conducts inventory around the state (see NHI Projects) and works with people in business, industry, government, and private conservation organizations to apply the results. The NHI database houses inventory results as well as data contributed by cooperating scientists and gleaned from museums, herbaria, and published reports. NHI data are exempt from Wisconsin's Open Records Law due to the vulnerability of rare species to collection and destruction. However, we have an active data sharing program, both within the DNR and with outside groups. For outside groups, we must use a data license agreement, and, in most cases, we must charge for the data as specified in Wisconsin Statutes. Generalized versions of the database are available for everyone's use (see County Maps and County Data).

Natural Heritage Inventory data are used for a variety of purposes including land management, state land master planning, community planning, conservation planning, and endangered resources review of public and private activities across the state. For more information on endangered resources review, see Endangered Resources Review & Planning.

To Learn more about the Wisconsin NHI Program, see the NHI Overview.