Natural Heritage Information Centre
Download the Rare Species Occurrences Shapefile
Download the large (20MB) zipped Rare Species Occurrence data (spec_1km.dbf) here. Updated 2009/06/03.
Download a large (55MB) one kilometre grid shapefile for the province here.:
The 1 km squares coverage is large (55MB), covering all of Ontario. The related table (spec_1km.dbf) contains provincially tracked species data for each square. Please note that because potentially many species’ occurrences may intersect with a square, there can be from 0 to many species records for any individual square. The shapefile of the squares can be related to the table of species within a GIS, such as ArcGIS, to display species records for each square.
All occurrences are included in this shapefile, including extirpated records and records for non-SAR provincially tracked species. The data that were used to create this shapefile were taken from the NHIC Element Occurrence Database. The data are represented by generalized 1km x 1km squares and are projected in decimal degrees and NAD83. There is more information in the NHIC Data Standards.
Attribute included in the species spec_1km.dbf file are:
SQUARE1KM – the 1KM square identifier for joining this table to the field SQU_1KM_83 in the 1KM square shapefile.
EO_ID - the identifier for the specific occurrences for the species within the square. This is the identifier to use when contacting MNR districts or NHIC for additional details about a particular species occurrence
ELEMENT_SU - unique identifier for the species, links to the NHIC Biotics species tables and NRVIS species tables
SCI_NAME - official scientific name
COMMNAME - English common name
S_RANK - Ontario sub-national rank maintained by NHIC
COSEWIC - Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC ) national status designation (where applicable)
MNR_STATUS - Official MNR status designation under the Endangered Species Act for the species (where applicable)
LAST_OBS_D - date on which the species occurrence was last observed
EXTIRPATED - flags records that are extirpated
For more details about a particular species occurrence (as identified by its EO_ID), contact your local MNR district to follow up.
Any questions, please contact Pete Sorrill at 705-755-2157 .