Natural Heritage Information Centre

The Natural Heritage Information Centre (NHIC) compiles, maintains and distributes information on natural species, plant communities and spaces of conservation concern in Ontario. This information is stored in a spatial database used for tracking this information. The Centre also has a library with conservation-related literature, reports, books, and maps, which are accessible for conservation applications, land use planning, and natural resource management. The NHIC website makes much of this information available through the internet. To learn more about the NHIC please visit the About Us section of the website.

Update to species list...

Ontario species lists can either be accessed through Biodiversity Explorer, or by downloading the entire species list here.

Species Observation Spreadsheet

For those wanting to submit records to NHIC in bulk, the NHIC Species Observation Spreadhsheet is available here.

NHIC Newsletter, Spring 2011.

The 2011 edition of the NHIC Newsletter is now available! Highlights of this year’s issue include:

• Biodiversity of Great Lakes coastal areas
• Monitoring and biodiversity surveys at Long Ridge Point, James Bay
• Field Surveys on Nature Conservancy of Canada properties
• NHIC’s herbarium and a new reptile and amphibian atlas for Ontario

Download the PDF here

Cette publication hautement spécialisée NHIC Newsletter, Spring 2011 n’est disponible qu’en Anglais en vertu du Règlement 411/97 qui en exempte l’application de la Loi sur les services en français. Pour obtenir de l’aide en français, veuillez communiquer avec Erika Luoma au 705-235-1219 au ministère des Richesses naturelles.

Latest News...NHIC Data Sensitivity Training

The sessions are open to municipal, provincial and federal government, conservation authorities, as well as qualified non-governmental environmental organizations.

To reserve a seat for training, and additional information and course outline, please email NHICREQUESTS@ontario.ca.

Islands of Life.

The Ministry of Natural Resources, the Nature Conservancy of Canada and The Nature Conservancy (U.S.) have worked together in a successful partnership to produce Islands of Life: A Biodiversity and Conservation Atlas of the Great Lakes Islands. This ecologically-based analysis identifies islands and groups of islands within the Great Lakes that have important biodiversity values and are a high priority for conservation action. You can download the report Here; digital data and information are available through Land Information Ontario.

Latest News...Biodiversity Explorer launches.

Biodiversity Explorer is a new tool for querying records of biodiversity information within Ontario. It replaces most of the past queries available on the NHIC website, and includes some great new functionality such as selecting areas to query spatially. The current version includes information for provincially tracked species of conservation concern (including Species at Risk), plant communities, wildlife concentration areas, and invasive species. Natural Areas will be available via Biodiversity Explorer later this month. Please note that Biodiversity Explorer requires Internet Explorer as your browser in order to work.. It's available as a new selection on the left side bar of this page.

Updates...

For GIS users, the rare species locations for linking to the 1km shapefile were last updated on June 24th 2011 here.

Comments

If you have any comments on the design and functionality of the web site please send your feedback to Pete Sorrill (e-mail available on the staff list).

Helpful Information

• To navigate through the NHIC web site, click on the options in the side menu bar or the location bar at the top...
• Frequently Asked Questions

Source Statement

"Data provided by the Natural Heritage Information Centre, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, <date>, <web URL>"