Supplemental materials are also available that indicate the state, national, and global status of the rare plants and animals of North Carolina. These publications are available from the NHP and are helpful in understanding each natural heritage record. (SEE CROSS REFERENCES)
NATURAL HERITAGE PROGRAM DATA The Natural Heritage Program is the state's most comprehensive source of information on rare and endangered animals and plants, and exemplary natural communities, known collectively as "elements of natural diversity." Since 1976, the program has systematically gathered information on the occurrence and status of the state's ecological resources. The inventory consists of information compiled from a broad range of sources including herbarium and museum collections, published and unpublished literature, and field surveys by volunteers, contracted workers, and staff. Information from and interpretation of this database for specific sites is available from the Natural Heritage Program. This is generally the preferred method of getting information on elements of natural diversity. The geographic content of the Natural Heritage Program element occurrence database has also been incorporated into the state Center for Geographic Information & Analysis (CGIA) ARC/INFO database where it can be combined with other geographic data for planning and analysis. Users of the data must, however, be aware of the nature and limitations of the data.
LIMITATIONS OF POINT LOCATION DATA The point locations contained in the CGIA database represent occurrences of species or communities which cover varying areas, and their boundaries may or may not be known. The points represent the centroid of the area covered, to the extent that it is known. Some occurrences may extend several miles from their centers. The element occurrence database contains data from a variety of sources, which vary in the quality of their locational information. Some centroid points may be as much as several miles off, though most are closer and many are exact to within one or two seconds of latitude or longitude. The precision of record is indicated in the Natural Heritage Program databases. Because of uncertainty about the precision and accuracy of source data, and because the aerial extent of occurrences is not indicated on CGIA maps, occurrences anywhere within several miles of a site of interest should be regarded as indicating the need for more information. Probability of effects by a project depends on the actual location and extent of the element occurrence, on the nature of the species or community, and on the nature of the action being considered. Interpretation of potential effects should be done only by biologists familiar with the element, with the best locational information available.
LIMITATIONS OF ABSENCE OF DATA Although the Natural Heritage Program has conducted numerous biological inventories and has assembled as much of the secondary source data as possible, the majority of the state has never been systematically surveyed for rare species or natural communities. In addition, negative surveys are seldom reported to the Natural Heritage Program and are not recorded. The database reflects only locations where an element was once known to occur. It does not distinguish between areas known to have no elements and those that have not been checked. The absence of element location cannot be taken as an indication of absence of elements or of ecological concerns. Natural Heritage Program biologists are often able to give indications of the potential for concern in unsurveyed areas.
DATA CURRENCY The Natural Heritage Program databases are continually updated as new information is acquired. The locational database at CGIA is updated as needed for applications. Users should determine from CGIA the date of the last update and, if necessary, see that an update is done prior to their application being run. All printed maps from the GIS should be dated. Depending on activity in a given area, a map may quickly become outdated, or may remain current for several years. It is not possible to set a specific expiration date on maps; however, data more than six months old should not be depended on without checking with the Natural Heritage Program. Only a small portion of the rare species and community locations are monitored on a regular basis. Information in the Natural Heritage Program database represents the occurrence at the last time it was observed. The date of last observation is given in the Natural Heritage Program database but is not included in the CGIA database. Records are kept in the database until the destruction of an occurrence is confirmed. Thus, some of the records are likely to represent locations where an element has not been seen in many years and may no longer be present.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION Additional information about databases, elements of natural diversity, and user services is available from the Natural Heritage Program. The basic data are "public records" and are available for inspection on request for reasonable purposes.
system filename: nheo file size - 1.37MB
Revisions and updates to this layer include:
23.) filename: nheo700 - NHEO layer updated July 20, 2000.
Total number of points = 20,830.
22.) filename: nheo300 - NHEO layer updated March 6, 2000.
Total number of points = 20,170.
21.) filename: nheo1199 - NHEO layer updated November 2, 1999.
Total number of points = 19,416.
20.) filename: nheo599 - NHEO layer updated May 21, 1999.
Total number of points = 19,067.
19.) filename: nheo299 - NHEO layer updated Feb. 23, 1999.
Total number of points = 18,802.
18.) filename: nheo1098 Total number of points in October, 1998
update - 17,370.
17.) filename: nheo898.
Total number of points in August, 1998 file = 17,202.
The August 1998 update to this layer consisted of
projecting the data from NAD27 datum, State Plane
projection, units of measure feet TO: NAD83 DATUM,
State Plane PROJECTION, UNITS OF MEASURE METERS.
This was done to comply with the NC Geographic
Information Coordinating Council's "Statement of
Direction for North Carolina Corporate Geographic
Database Horizontal Reference, Datum and Unit of
Measure". This reprojecting was done in
various ways depending on the data type and content.
Vector data was projected using the 'project' command
in ESRI's Arc software and topology was cleaned and
built based on coverage needs. Raster data was
projected using ESRI's Grid module and various steps
as applicable.
16.) filename: nheo398. Total number of points in
March 20, 1998 file = 16,978.
15.) filename: nheo298. Total number of points in
February 20, 1998 file = 15,767.
14.) filename: nheo297. Total number of points in
February 4, 1997 file = 16,512.
13.) filename: nheo1096. Total number of points in
October 21, 1996 file = 16,635.
12.) filename: nheo496 Total number of points in
April 9, 1996 file = 15,088.
11.) filename: nheo196 Total number of points in January 23,
1996 file = 14,850.
10.) filename: nheo995 (previously named nc.nheo995)
Total number of points in September 26, 1995 file = 14,329.
The items "SPROT" and "GISID" were added to the PAT.
9.) filename: nheo595 (previously named nc.nheo595)
Total number of points in May 11, 1995 file = 13,871.
8.) filename: nheo1094 (previously named nc.nheo1094)
Total number of points in October 18, 1994 file = 12,826.
7.) filename: nheo594 (previously named nc.nheo594)
Total number of points in May 26, 1994 file = 12,046.
6.) filename: nheo294 (previously named nc.nheo294)
Total number of points in February 18, 1994 file = 11,665.
5.) filename: nheo1193 (previously named nc.nheo1193)
Total number of points in
November 1993 file = 10,785 (Decline in number of points is
due to the deletion of the points which did not have recorded
Lat/Long values or is due to species reclassification. If
there is a question about a specific site location, contact
the Natural Heritage Program.)
4.) filename: nheo893 (previoulsy named nc.nheo893)
Total number of points in August 1993 file = 12,252.
3.) filename: nheo493 (previously named nc.nhp493)
Total number of points in April 1993 file = 10,005.
2.) filename: nheo192 (previously named nc.nhp192)
Total number of points in January 31, 1992 file = 9,546.
1.) filename: The first file was release in 1990 and was
superseded by the 1/13/92 version. This file was not archived.
Total number of points in 1990 file = 7,366 (unverified).
NC DENR, Div. of Parks and Recreation, Natura, 20000720, Natural Heritage Element Occurrences: NC DENR Div. of Parks and Recreation, Natural Heritage Program, Raleigh, North Carolina.Online Links:
- CGDB layer listing and Metadata - <http://www.cgia.state.nc.us/cgdb/index.html>
Planar coordinates are encoded using coordinate pair
Abscissae (x-coordinates) are specified to the nearest 1
Ordinates (y-coordinates) are specified to the nearest 1
Planar coordinates are specified in meters
The horizontal datum used is North American Datum of 1983.
The ellipsoid used is Geodetic Reference System 1980.
The semi-major axis of the ellipsoid used is 6378137.
The flattening of the ellipsoid used is 1/298.257.
| Range of values | |
|---|---|
| Minimum: | 0.000 |
| Maximum: | 0.000 |
| Units: | feet |
| Resolution: | .001 |
| Range of values | |
|---|---|
| Minimum: | 0.000 |
| Maximum: | 0.000 |
| Units: | Feet |
| Resolution: | 0.001 |
| Range of values | |
|---|---|
| Minimum: | 1 |
| Maximum: | 20830 |
| Range of values | |
|---|---|
| Minimum: | 1 |
| Maximum: | 20830 |
| Value | Definition |
|---|---|
| A | Vertebrate animal |
| C | Natural community |
| I | Invertebrate animal |
| N | Non-vascular plant |
| P | Vascular plant |
| S | Special animal habitat |
| Value | Definition |
|---|---|
| G | General, accurate to within five minutes of latitude or longitude |
| M | Minutes, accurate to within one minute of latitude or longitude |
| S | Seconds, accurate to within one second of latitude or longitude |
| Value | Definition |
|---|---|
| E | Extant |
| H | Historic, but no evidence for destruction. |
| Value | Definition |
|---|---|
| E | Endangered |
| T | Threatened |
| SC | Special Concern |
| C | Candidate |
| SR | Significantly Rare |
| C-SC | Candidate-Special Concern |
| E-SC | Endangered-Special Concern |
| PE | Proposed Endangered |
| T-SC | Threatened-Special Concern |
| EX | Extirpated |
| "" | No state status |
The ID values for this item are unique and are added as new element occurrences are discovered. Therefore, if actual identification of an element is necessary, the source agency must be contacted to decode the ID value.
ITEM NAME WIDTH OUTPUT TYPE N.DEC DESCRIPTION
AREA 4 12 F 3 Total area in coverage units
PERIMETER 4 12 F 3 Total perimeter in coverage
units
NHEO# 4 5 B - Internal ID number
NHEO-ID 4 5 B - User ID number
ELCLASS 1 1 C - Element class
PRECISION 1 1 C - Accuracy of coordinate
EOSTAT 1 1 C - Element occurrence status
SPROT 10 10 C - State protection status
ELEMENT_ID 4 7 B - Element occurrence site ID
value
Division of Parks and Recreation Director, Philip K. McKnellyNatural Heritage Program, Linda Pearsall
NC Dept. of Environment and Natural Resources
512 N. Salisbury Street
Raleigh, NC 27604-1148
NCCGIA Director, Karen Siderelis
Database Administration, Zsolt Nagy
Database Management, Ken Shaffer
Project Manager, David Giordano
North Carolina Center for Geographic Information and Analysis
Governor's Office
Office of State Planning
301 North Wilmington Street, Suite 700
Raleigh, NC 27601-2825
(919) 715-8697 (voice)
(919) 715-3085 (FAX)
This data was created to assist governmental agencies and others in making resource management decisions through use of a Geographic Information System (GIS).
NC DENR-Div. of Parks and Recre, Natural Heritage Program, 20000720, Natural Heritage Element Occurrences: NC DENR-Div. of Parks and Recreation, Natural Heritage Program, Raleigh, North Carolina.
Survey, US Geological , 1990, USGS 7.5 Minute series quadrangles: US Geological Survey, Reston, Virginia.
Person who carried out this activity:
(919) 715-8697 (voice)
(919) 715-3085 (FAX)
Person who carried out this activity:
(919) 733-2090 (voice)
(919)715-0725 (FAX)
dataq@cgia.state.nc.us
Hall, S.P. and LeGrand, H.E, Jr., 1997, Natural Heritage Program List of Rare Animal Species of North Carolina: NC DENR-Div. of Parks and Recreation, Natural Heritage Program, Raleigh, North Carolina.
Schafale, M.P. and A.S. Weakley, 1990, Classification of the Natural Communities of North Carolina: NC DENR-Div. of Parks and Recreation, Natural Heritage Program, Raleigh, North Carolina.
Amoroso, J.L., 1997, Natural Heritage Program List of Rare Plant Species of North Carolina: NC DENR-Div. of Parks and Recreation, Natural Heritage Program, Raleigh, North Carolina.
NC DENR-Div. of Parks and Recreation, Natural Heritage Program provides the Natural Heritage Element Occurrences as and Arc/Info export file, which is imported into a coverage. Points are reviewed by NHP staff. This digital file is updated as changes occur.
Natural Heritage Element Occurrences were marked on 7.5 Minute USGS paper topographic maps, which meet National Map Accuracy Standards, using a best estimate with reference to surrounding features.
These data represent the locations of rare or endangered species populations, occurrences of exemplary or unique natural ecosystems (terrestrial and palustrine) and special wildlife habitats as identified by NC DENR-Div. of Parks and Recreation, Natural Heritage Program.
Using ESRI's ARC/INFO GIS software, the data set was built for points using the "build" command. Topology has not been edited since the last build or clean.
Are there legal restrictions on access or use of the data?
- Access_Constraints:
- Although present in the Corporate database, the element occurrence data remains under the supervision of the Natural Heritage Program. Permission MUST be given by the Natural Heritage Program for each different use of the data. Although more significant ecological features are lost because of ignorance and accident than because of exploitation or intentional destruction, publication of locations of many species increases the risk of deliberate damage to them. To minimize this risk, elements are not identified in the CGIA database. Points are labeled only as plant, animal, or natural community occurrences. If a particular occurrence is of interest, the Natural Heritage Program must be contacted to determine the identity of the element and its significance to the project concerned. There may be a charge for Natural Heritage Program services in providing the data, in addition to CGIA fees. A preapproval letter must be sent from CGIA to the source agency before release of this data can occur. Contact Production Services at (919)733-2090.
- Use_Constraints:
- These data are intended for research or planning projects that will contribute to better protection for the ecological features involved. Due to its dynamic nature, this data becomes outdated very quickly. The Natural Heritage Program must be contacted before each use of the data set to ensure data currency. Acknowledgement of products derived from this data set should cite the following: The source of the Natural Heritage Element Occurrences data is the North Carolina Corporate Geographic Database. Earlier versions of this dataset may exist. The user must be sure to use the appropriate data set for the time period of interest. While efforts have been made to ensure that these data are accurate and reliable within the state of the art, CGIA cannot assume liability for any damages or misrepresentation caused by any inaccuracies in the data or as a result of changes to the data caused by system transfers.
(919) 733-2090 (voice)
(919) 715-0725 (FAX)
dataq@cgia.state.nc.us
Natural Heritage Element Occurrences
NCCGIA is charged with the development and maintenance of the State's corporate geographic database and, in cooperation with other mapping organizations, is committed to offering its users accurate, useful, and current information about the state. Although every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of information, errors and conditions originating from physical sources used to develop the corporate database may be reflected in the data supplied. The client must be aware of data conditions and bear responsibility for the appropriate use of the information with respect to possible errors, original map scale, collection methodology, currency of data, and other conditions specific to certain data. NCCGIA does not support secondary distribution of this data. The use of trade names or commercial products does not constitute their endorsement by the NCCGIA or North Carolina State Government.
FOR DIGITAL OR NON-DIGITAL DATA, Contact NC CGIA, Data Distribution to order data, Phone 919.733.2090 ... Email dataq@cgia.state.nc.us ... Web Page order form <http://www.cgia.state.nc.us/cgdb/index.html>
For current FORMAT/MEDIA INFORMATION, use a web browser: <http://www.cgia.state.nc.us/cost.html> or phone NC CGIA Data Distribution 919.733.2090
Data creation and large data analysis jobs contact Database Administration P:(919)733-2090. All data is available through standard ordering procedures on a cost recovery basis.
All formats supplied are created using ARC/INFO GIS software on Unix workstations. Other formats are available. Format compatibility is the user's responsibility. For more information on formats and media, use a web browser: FORMAT/MEDIA INFORMATION - <http://www.cgia.state.nc.us/cost.html>
(919) 733-2090 (voice)
(919) 715-0725 (FAX)
dataq@cgia.state.nc.us