Natural Heritage Information Centre

About the NHIC

The NHIC was established in 1993 as a joint venture between the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) and three partners:

	The Nature Conservancy of Canada,
	Natural Heritage League
	and The Nature Conservancy

The NHIC is part of the Ontario OMNR Fish and Wildlife Branch. The NHIC contributes to OMNR’s role in protecting the genetic, species and ecosystem diversity of Ontario.

The Mission

• To acquire, maintain, update, and make available data on the province's rare species, vegetation communities, and natural areas.

The Goal

• To generate a permanent and dynamic atlas and data bank on the character, distribution and conservation status of natural areas, critical flora and fauna, communities and special features in Ontario.

The Objectives

• To assemble and organize information on endangered species and spaces from all available sources, such as atlas projects, naturalist groups, universities, museums, and inventory/monitoring programs by public and private sector agencies and organizations.
• To make information on rare species and spaces more accessible for ecologically-sound land use planning, and in support of biodiversity conservation programs.
• To track priority species, ecological communities and sites to guide biodiversity conservation activities by public and private sector conservation organizations.
• To maintain a central repository of natural heritage data and information in Ontario.