1.
Information Systems & Services Update
Scott Blum
December 1, 2016
Braden Burkholder Martin Miller
Karen Coleman
Dave Ratz
mtnhp.org

2.
• Established by Legislature in 1983
• Part of the Montana State Library’s
Natural Resource Information System
• Operated under contract with the
University of Montana
• Under MCA 90-15-102, "Natural heritage
program" means a program of
information acquisition, storage, and
retrieval for data relating to the flora,
fauna, and biological community types of
Montana.
• Part of the Nature Heritage Network --
NatureServe

3.
27 (35%)
16 (21%)
8 (10%)
12 (15%)
15 (19%)
Institutional Housing
of Heritage Programs

4.
• 57 of 78 programs responded to some extent
• Mean annual funding for 54 programs = $1,296,214
• Median annual funding for 54 = $712,500
• Range in annual funding (N = 54) = $4,000 to $9,500,000
• Total annual funding for 54 programs = $69,995,594
Montana

5.
Percentage of Programs with Position Filled (Yes)

6.
Percentage of Programs Managing Information (Yes)

7.
Percentage of Programs with Web Delivery (Yes)

8.
mtnhp.org

9.
Species Snapshot
Custom Species Lists and Field Guides
Spatial Filters Taxonomic Filters Status Filter

10.
Custom Field Guides

11.
Natural Heritage MapViewer
General Public
Agency-Level
Password Access Only
http://mtnhp.org/mapviewer/

12.
Single Species Overview – Pygmy Rabbit
Observations = Brown Squares
Surveys = Gray Circles
Moderate Suitability Habitat = Orange Hexagons
* Recent models available for
all Animal Species of Concern
* Hexagons are 1 square
mile in area and
approximately 1
kilometer on a side

13.
Single Species Overview – Whitebark Pine
Species Occurrences = Green Circles
Moderate Suitability Habitat = Orange Hexagons
High Suitability Habitat = Red Hexagons
*Right now plant models only available for 3 x T & E
• Whitebark Pine
• Ute Ladies Tresses
• Spaulding’s Catchfly

14.
Environmental Assessement Report
Species observations, Surveys, Land Cover, Wetland & Riparian Mapping, Land
Management & Biological Reports summarized across all hexagons in user defined polygon

15.
Documented and Potential Species List
Documented Species in dark shading, Potential Species in light shading
Links to Observations, Range Maps, Predictive Models, & Associated Habitats

16.
Structured Surveys Performed
Surveys following a structured protocol performed in the delineated polygon

17.
Land Cover
Summary
Summarized by acreage and percent of
area delimited by user

18.
Wetland & Riparian
Mapping Summary
Summarized by acreage
of area delimited by user

19.
Land Management
Summary
Summarized by acreage and percent
of area delimited by user

20.
Biological Reports
Reports associated with observations in the user defined polygon

21.
New Standard For Heritage Reports

22.
Example
Templated Hierarchical
Environmental Summary

23.
A Vision for Viewing Data Regionally & Hemispherically
Use Hexagons to Cross
Observation Types and
Protect Sensitivity of Data

24.
Future Data Gathering
For Public

25.
Future Data Gathering
For Agencies
Survey123 for ArcGIS

26.
Other Focal Efforts
• Continue enhanced outreach (webinars, trainings)
• Format all MTNHP web pages for mobile access
• Predictive models for all species
• Range maps for plants
• Automated review of observations
(appropriate range, date, & habitat, not a duplicate record,
and not a first record in a QLL)…focus manual review effort
• Data exchanges with partners
• Data exchange MOU update with FWP
• Additional data use tracking tools