Strategic Plan

Pictured below: NatureServe network member Pronatura Veracruz enhances public understanding NatureServe envisions a world where decision-makers recognize the value of biodiversity, fully of species and ecosystem science by focusing A NATURAL HERITAGE OF ACCOMPLISHMENT attention on an annual phenomenon known as understand the importance of science in the protection of biodiversity, and invest in science the “River of Raptors” — the world’s largest hawk migration. (Photo © Jesús Eduardo Martínez Leyva) NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENTS FROM THE PAST FIVE YEARS as the basis for their decisions that affect biodiversity. • Providing data and expertise to millions of • Working with local partners from users by fulfilling 30,000,000 individual Paraguay to Alaska to engage stakeholders information requests over five years — a rate and train practitioners in place-based of 6,000,000 queries each year, or one request conservation planning THE PLAN every five seconds • Advancing the protection of biodiversity To guide our work for the next five years, we GUIDING CONSERVATION IMPACT • Documenting more than 300,000 new locations hotspots from rapid infrastructure have assessed the status of our network, the for at-risk species, publishing updated development in support of sustainable context in which we operate, and the driving NatureServe is most effective when decision- information via NatureServe Explorer while and functioning ecosystems forces that will shape how we achieve mission makers use our knowledge and services to raising the total number of mapped locations focus scarce resources on the highest priority • Organizing biodiversity information to impact. This executive summary provides an to nearly 1,000,000 conservation activities; to manage working answer key management questions related to overview of NatureServe’s 2012-2016 Strategic lands on behalf of biodiversity; to improve • Producing the first standardized maps of recreation, energy, and forestry development Plan. To read or download the complete plan, visit the environmental quality of infrastructure ecosystems in the Americas www.natureserve.org/strategic_plan. • Establishing our annual Biodiversity Without development; and to support other societal needs • Providing data-system services that make Boundaries conference as a marquee event in ways that preserve biological diversity. biodiversity conservation more efficient from for our member network, natural resource STRATEGIC PLAN 2012–2016 We can further increase and direct our federal agencies to local communities in the practitioners, and scientific colleagues A NETWORK CONNECTING conservation impact by proactively developing U.S., Canada, and Central and South America SCIENCE WITH CONSERVATION • Collaborating on the publication of a standard key data analyses and syntheses that incorporate • Putting critical information in the hands Coastal Marine Ecosystem Classification EXECUTIVE SUMMARY More than 1,000 professionals constitute the other authoritative non-biodiversity data. Our of resource managers and decision-makers System (CMECS) for describing coastal and NatureServe network. These dedicated staff pursuit of these outcomes will reduce threats to with tools like NatureServe Vista and offshore marine habitats collect and manage the Western Hemisphere’s biodiversity, yielding positive results in the form Current Constituent NatureServe Surveyor most comprehensive source of biodiversity data. of reduced species extinction risk, fewer imperiled Members of the • Creating LandScope America in collaboration NatureServe Network This resource contains nearly 1,000,000 mapped ecosystems, and more robust ecosystem function • Developing sound methodologies for ecological with the National Geographic Society to guide locations of at-risk species and ecosystems, across landscapes. The NatureServe network assessments, including the likely impacts of U.S. practitioners, policy-makers, and citizens providing extensive information on more than of 2012 includes more By providing the scientific basis for actions that than 80 public and private climate change on species, ecosystems, and towards shared conservation priorities and 66,400 species and 6,700 ecosystems. member programs places like wildlife refuges and parks strategic partnerships conserve the rare and imperiled species and throughout the United States, Each member of the NatureServe network uses threatened ecosystems of the Western Hemisphere Canada, and Latin America. consistent methods adapted to local conservation We also engage partners — and indeed, the world — we will extend and influence conservation biodiversity-information needs and challenges, what eminent biologist and 2011 NatureServe in dozens of other countries creating a resilient, distributed system for Conservation Award winner Dr. E. O. Wilson elsewhere the hemisphere and connecting on-the-ground science to local, in Africa, Asia, and Australia. calls “the vital, the necessary, and the increasingly View our current member list at national, and global policy- and decision-making. impressive enterprise that is NatureServe.” www.natureserve.org/network. Providing the scientific basis for effective conservation action To learn more or donate, visit www.natureserve.org Pictured below: NatureServe network member Pronatura Veracruz enhances public understanding NatureServe envisions a world where decision-makers recognize the value of biodiversity, fully of species and ecosystem science by focusing A NATURAL HERITAGE OF ACCOMPLISHMENT attention on an annual phenomenon known as understand the importance of science in the protection of biodiversity, and invest in science the “River of Raptors” — the world’s largest hawk migration. (Photo © Jesús Eduardo Martínez Leyva) NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENTS FROM THE PAST FIVE YEARS as the basis for their decisions that affect biodiversity. • Providing data and expertise to millions of • Working with local partners from users by fulfilling 30,000,000 individual Paraguay to Alaska to engage stakeholders information requests over five years — a rate and train practitioners in place-based of 6,000,000 queries each year, or one request conservation planning THE PLAN every five seconds • Advancing the protection of biodiversity To guide our work for the next five years, we GUIDING CONSERVATION IMPACT • Documenting more than 300,000 new locations hotspots from rapid infrastructure have assessed the status of our network, the for at-risk species, publishing updated development in support of sustainable context in which we operate, and the driving NatureServe is most effective when decision- information via NatureServe Explorer while and functioning ecosystems forces that will shape how we achieve mission makers use our knowledge and services to raising the total number of mapped locations focus scarce resources on the highest priority • Organizing biodiversity information to impact. This executive summary provides an to nearly 1,000,000 conservation activities; to manage working answer key management questions related to overview of NatureServe’s 2012-2016 Strategic lands on behalf of biodiversity; to improve • Producing the first standardized maps of recreation, energy, and forestry development Plan. To read or download the complete plan, visit the environmental quality of infrastructure ecosystems in the Americas www.natureserve.org/strategic_plan. • Establishing our annual Biodiversity Without development; and to support other societal needs • Providing data-system services that make Boundaries conference as a marquee event in ways that preserve biological diversity. biodiversity conservation more efficient from for our member network, natural resource STRATEGIC PLAN 2012–2016 We can further increase and direct our federal agencies to local communities in the practitioners, and scientific colleagues A NETWORK CONNECTING conservation impact by proactively developing U.S., Canada, and Central and South America SCIENCE WITH CONSERVATION • Collaborating on the publication of a standard key data analyses and syntheses that incorporate • Putting critical information in the hands Coastal Marine Ecosystem Classification EXECUTIVE SUMMARY More than 1,000 professionals constitute the other authoritative non-biodiversity data. Our of resource managers and decision-makers System (CMECS) for describing coastal and NatureServe network. These dedicated staff pursuit of these outcomes will reduce threats to with tools like NatureServe Vista and offshore marine habitats collect and manage the Western Hemisphere’s biodiversity, yielding positive results in the form Current Constituent NatureServe Surveyor most comprehensive source of biodiversity data. of reduced species extinction risk, fewer imperiled Members of the • Creating LandScope America in collaboration NatureServe Network This resource contains nearly 1,000,000 mapped ecosystems, and more robust ecosystem function • Developing sound methodologies for ecological with the National Geographic Society to guide locations of at-risk species and ecosystems, across landscapes. The NatureServe network assessments, including the likely impacts of U.S. practitioners, policy-makers, and citizens providing extensive information on more than of 2012 includes more By providing the scientific basis for actions that than 80 public and private climate change on species, ecosystems, and towards shared conservation priorities and 66,400 species and 6,700 ecosystems. member programs places like wildlife refuges and parks strategic partnerships conserve the rare and imperiled species and throughout the United States, Each member of the NatureServe network uses threatened ecosystems of the Western Hemisphere Canada, and Latin America. consistent methods adapted to local conservation We also engage partners — and indeed, the world — we will extend and influence conservation biodiversity-information needs and challenges, what eminent biologist and 2011 NatureServe in dozens of other countries creating a resilient, distributed system for Conservation Award winner Dr. E. O. Wilson elsewhere the hemisphere and connecting on-the-ground science to local, in Africa, Asia, and Australia. calls “the vital, the necessary, and the increasingly View our current member list at national, and global policy- and decision-making. impressive enterprise that is NatureServe.” www.natureserve.org/network. Providing the scientific basis for effective conservation action To learn more or donate, visit www.natureserve.org Pictured below: The Clinch River near Cleveland Barrens Natural Area Preserve, whose biological riches were identified and protected by the Virginia Scientific Knowledge Network Capacity Impact Decisions Reduced Threat Biodiversity Conservation Natural Heritage Program. (Photo © Jack Looney) 4 4 4 4 OUTCOMES FOR 2012 THROUGH 2016 CREATING NEW VALUE FROM CORE STRENGTHS

NatureServe exists to create knowledge about These emerging focal areas represent our RESULT 1 RESULT 2 RESULT 3 RESULT 4 biodiversity and apply it to serve conservation and continuing evolution as an organization and BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION IS GUIDED BY INCREASINGLY NETWORK EFFECTIVENESS FOR BUILDING NATURESERVE ANALYSES AND SYNTHESES CLIENTS USE NATURESERVE DATA, TOOLS, AND resource management. Over the next five years, respond to input from partners, stakeholders, HIGH-QUALITY AND UP-TO-DATE SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE BIODIVERSITY KNOWLEDGE IS ENHANCED INFORM KEY SOCIETAL CHALLENGES EXPERTISE TO ADDRESS THEIR SPECIFIC NEEDS we intend to leverage our core strengths — our and clients. We believe that these new emphases comprehensive database on at-risk species and will support our continued growth as a leader NatureServe connects a large network We will inform decision-making while By applying our expertise to specific The actions supporting this result nourish 5. NatureServe guides network-wide development ecosystems and our network of local, national, and provider of knowledge essential to the of local expertise that works to address firmly establishing ourselves as a thought biodiversity and management challenges, the scientific foundation of our work of knowledge for strategic freshwater and international biodiversity experts — to conservation and natural resource communities regional, national, and international leader with proactive analyses and we will respond to both opportunities and (methods, data, and expertise). biodiversity conservation increase our impact in emerging areas like: while expanding our influence beyond them. conservation challenges. Our nearly four decades syntheses that bring our knowledge to partner needs, improve our own use of adaptive 1. The taxonomy of at-risk species is kept current 6. NatureServe adds value to marine biodiversity of networking create a great institutional bear on cross-cutting societal challenges. The management, and position the NatureServe network • Improving scientific understanding and to ensure consistent treatment of species conservation through a network-wide strategy advantage that requires continuous improvement. need to integrate our information with other as a valued partner, collaborator, and service provider. measurement of landscape integrity wherever they occur that complements existing efforts types of data implies the development of new, 1. Network constituent members meet and 1. Resource development is guided to sustain • Conserving aquatic biodiversity strategic partnerships. 2. Knowledge of vulnerability and extinction risk 7. A web-enabled, sustainable, and adaptable exceed standards of institutional and biodiversity through the use of NatureServe’s data, • Increasing the efficiency of systems for for species and ecosystems has increased data-management system supports knowledge technological effectiveness 1. Visualizations and syntheses of NatureServe tools, and expertise monitoring trends in biodiversity management and data integration data illuminate large-scale challenges to 3. Trends in distribution and condition for 2. Intra-network connections are stronger and 2. Collaborative partnerships provide more biodiversity • Enhancing knowledge transfer within our species and ecosystems across the Americas more effective multidisciplinary and results-oriented solutions network are better communicated 2. NatureServe data are integrated with other to environmental challenges 3. The NatureServe network is engaged in a key information to shape environmental, • Expanding network capacity 4. Unified terrestrial ecological classifications, broader set of partnerships with institutions 3. All components of the NatureServe network scientific, economic, and social policy mapping standards, and habitat responsible for collecting and disseminating have capacity to respond quickly to emerging questions and solutions • Illuminating the value of biodiversity across characterizations are implemented across biodiversity data issues of concern policies and disciplines the Americas 3. NatureServe is recognized as a thought leader 4. Like-minded organizations outside the Western in the conservation of biodiversity Hemisphere are engaged with NatureServe to share information and expertise Pictured right: The Dakota skipper (Hesperia dacotae) Pictured right: Discovered independently by is a globally imperiled (G2) species whose native botanists from the Virginia and North Carolina prairies of the upper Great Plains have lost 99.9% of Natural Heritage Programs in the 1990s, the Piedmont their historic range. The Manitoba Conservation Data fame-flower (Phemeranthus piedmontanus) was Centre earned our 2011 Conservation Impact Award for officially recognized as a new species in 2011 and their efforts to help stakeholders manage habitat for Pictured above: Ecologist Erin Lunsford Jones exists on sites preserved by both programs. the skipper and other at-risk species. (Photo © Bryan E. conducts field work at Natchez Trace Parkway. (Photo © Gary Fleming | Virginia DCR) Reynolds | www.botwf.org) (Photo © Carl Nordman) Pictured below: NatureServe network member Pronatura Veracruz enhances public understanding NatureServe envisions a world where decision-makers recognize the value of biodiversity, fully of species and ecosystem science by focusing A NATURAL HERITAGE OF ACCOMPLISHMENT attention on an annual phenomenon known as understand the importance of science in the protection of biodiversity, and invest in science the “River of Raptors” — the world’s largest hawk migration. (Photo © Jesús Eduardo Martínez Leyva) NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENTS FROM THE PAST FIVE YEARS as the basis for their decisions that affect biodiversity. • Providing data and expertise to millions of • Working with local partners from users by fulfilling 30,000,000 individual Paraguay to Alaska to engage stakeholders information requests over five years — a rate and train practitioners in place-based of 6,000,000 queries each year, or one request conservation planning THE PLAN every five seconds • Advancing the protection of biodiversity To guide our work for the next five years, we GUIDING CONSERVATION IMPACT • Documenting more than 300,000 new locations hotspots from rapid infrastructure have assessed the status of our network, the for at-risk species, publishing updated development in support of sustainable context in which we operate, and the driving NatureServe is most effective when decision- information via NatureServe Explorer while and functioning ecosystems forces that will shape how we achieve mission makers use our knowledge and services to raising the total number of mapped locations focus scarce resources on the highest priority • Organizing biodiversity information to impact. This executive summary provides an to nearly 1,000,000 conservation activities; to manage working answer key management questions related to overview of NatureServe’s 2012-2016 Strategic lands on behalf of biodiversity; to improve • Producing the first standardized maps of recreation, energy, and forestry development Plan. To read or download the complete plan, visit the environmental quality of infrastructure ecosystems in the Americas www.natureserve.org/strategic_plan. • Establishing our annual Biodiversity Without development; and to support other societal needs • Providing data-system services that make Boundaries conference as a marquee event in ways that preserve biological diversity. biodiversity conservation more efficient from for our member network, natural resource STRATEGIC PLAN 2012–2016 We can further increase and direct our federal agencies to local communities in the practitioners, and scientific colleagues A NETWORK CONNECTING conservation impact by proactively developing U.S., Canada, and Central and South America SCIENCE WITH CONSERVATION • Collaborating on the publication of a standard key data analyses and syntheses that incorporate • Putting critical information in the hands Coastal Marine Ecosystem Classification EXECUTIVE SUMMARY More than 1,000 professionals constitute the other authoritative non-biodiversity data. Our of resource managers and decision-makers System (CMECS) for describing coastal and NatureServe network. These dedicated staff pursuit of these outcomes will reduce threats to with tools like NatureServe Vista and offshore marine habitats collect and manage the Western Hemisphere’s biodiversity, yielding positive results in the form Current Constituent NatureServe Surveyor most comprehensive source of biodiversity data. of reduced species extinction risk, fewer imperiled Members of the • Creating LandScope America in collaboration NatureServe Network This resource contains nearly 1,000,000 mapped ecosystems, and more robust ecosystem function • Developing sound methodologies for ecological with the National Geographic Society to guide locations of at-risk species and ecosystems, across landscapes. The NatureServe network assessments, including the likely impacts of U.S. practitioners, policy-makers, and citizens providing extensive information on more than of 2012 includes more By providing the scientific basis for actions that than 80 public and private climate change on species, ecosystems, and towards shared conservation priorities and 66,400 species and 6,700 ecosystems. member programs places like wildlife refuges and parks strategic partnerships conserve the rare and imperiled species and throughout the United States, Each member of the NatureServe network uses threatened ecosystems of the Western Hemisphere Canada, and Latin America. consistent methods adapted to local conservation We also engage partners — and indeed, the world — we will extend and influence conservation biodiversity-information needs and challenges, what eminent biologist and 2011 NatureServe in dozens of other countries creating a resilient, distributed system for Conservation Award winner Dr. E. O. Wilson elsewhere the hemisphere and connecting on-the-ground science to local, in Africa, Asia, and Australia. calls “the vital, the necessary, and the increasingly View our current member list at national, and global policy- and decision-making. impressive enterprise that is NatureServe.” www.natureserve.org/network. Providing the scientific basis for effective conservation action To learn more or donate, visit www.natureserve.org