After 15 years of research, one year of data analysis, and one year in review, the results of the Global Reptile Assessment were published in the journal Nature. The authors of the study, including Bruce Young and Giovanni Rapacciuolo, conducted in collaboration with IUCN, Conservation International, and with contributions from over 900 scientists, found that 21% of reptiles worldwide are threatened with extinction. The paper was covered widely in the popular media, including in the New York Times.

The new assessment of U.S. trees reveals that 11-16% of tree species in the contiguous 48 U.S. states are threatened with extinction, with the most common threat being invasive and problematic pests and diseases. The study was conducted by Botanic Gardens Conservation International-U.S., The Morton Arboretum, and NatureServe in partnership with the U.S. Botanic Garden and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service. Authors of the study included Wes Knapp and Amanda Treher Eberly.

NatureServe President & CEO Sean O'Brien presents on the current and future work of NatureServe in this webinar.

CIO & VP for Technology and Partnerships Lori Scott joins other industry leaders in this panel hosted by the National Association of Environmental Professionals.

Refining species distributions through dynamic and participatory ecological modeling.

NatureServe Network: An Overview of Botanical and Ecological Work to Guide Conservation

Purple crowberry, a diminutive alpine shrub that hasn't been seen in Vermont in over a century, has been rediscovered on Mt. Mansfield. "This is an extraordinary find," said Bob Popp, a botanist with the Vermont Natural Heritage Inventory. The discovery was made by Liam Ebner, a trained summit steward with the Adirondack Mountain Club.

Botanists at the Pennsylvania Natural Heritage Program and the New York Botanical Garden described a new plant species, the stiletto beaksedge, from the southeastern United States. The stiletto beaksedge is globally imperiled and is only known to occur in Alabama, Arkansas, Missouri, and Tennessee.

The Yukon Conservation Data Centre led a weeklong Bioblitz at Beaver Creek, YT, which found more than 1,000 species representing one eighth of all Yukon's flora, fauna, and fungi! Ten of these species had never been found before in the territory.

Field biologists at Virginia's Natural Heritage Program have had a good year finding new species occurrences! In Caroline County, biologists confirmed the presence of two plant species critically imperiled (S1) in the state: sandhills lily and common bog-buttons.

Natural Heritage New Mexico teamed up with five state agencies to launch the EnviroData-NM web application. This new tool, built using NatureServe's Environmental Review Tool framework, combines key environmental datasets into a centralized, map-based application to help address environmental issues.

Crosscut, an independent nonprofit news site based in the Pacific Northwest, recently published a story about the conservation work of the Washington Department of Natural Resources Natural Heritage Program and Natural Areas Program, as well as the challenges that climate change poses to their efforts.