The Endangered Resources Review Program has undergone a few changes recently. Here’s an update on the services that we currently provide:

• Endangered Resources Reviews
• Free, online access to generalized Natural Heritage Inventory (NHI) data
• Access to detailed NHI data, generally provided via the NHI Portal
• Online information on the biology and ecology of rare plants, animals, and high-quality natural communities
• Technical support and assistance
• Online introductory NHI training (required for DNR staff and access to the NHI Portal)
• Incidental Take Permits and Authorizations
• Endangered and Threatened Species Permits
• Community planning resources

We’ve also recently redesigned and expanded our website to include more information to help you do your job, and make it easier to find the information you need. Please check it out, and let us know what else we could do to make the site more useful for you.

Please call us whenever you have questions about the services listed above. We are happy to help. You can find contact information for the staff who handle different areas of the Review Program on our technical support page.

Photo of a bald eagle in nest.
Photo by Rich Staffen.

Questions about specific species records in the portal? Want to know what to do if you find an eagle nest near your project, or where to look for a certain rare plant? If you are an external partner/customer, please contact the Review Program and we'll help you out. For DNR staff, your regional ecologist, Lisie Kitchel (if you are working with a transportation project), or Shari Koslowsky in the Office of Energy (if you are working with an energy project) can help you out. If you can't get a hold of one of these people and/or need more specific information, we've also compiled a list of individuals with expertise on rare species and natural communities [PDF] who are able to consult with DNR staff on specific questions.. This list is available to DNR staff by clicking on "Who to Contact" located on the left sidebar of the NHI Portal.

Photo of a Blanchard's cricket frog.
Photo by Rori Paloski.

Bob Hay retired in early 2009 to start a new chapter in his life. Bob served as the Department's lead resource for information on amphibians and reptiles for many years, cheerfully providing expert advice on protecting and conserving turtles, snakes, lizards and other herps to many of us over the years. We wish Bob the very best. Please direct your questions about all things herptile (including reports of new EOs and guidance on how to modify projects to avoid impacting herps) to Rori Paloski (reptiles) and Tara Bergeson (amphibians). DNR staff should refer to the list of Rare Species and Natural Community Experts [PDF] for additional individuals with expertise on specific species.

Over the last year, we've been talking with a group of internal staff, and external customers and partners to identify ways in which we could more effectively and efficiently provide the services of highest priority to our customers, both internal and external. Their recommendations have included better access to NHI data earlier in the project planning process, streamlining of and consistency in services and processes; shorter turnaround times; expanding our customer base; providing more guidance, tools and information to help customers better assess risks early in the process; and providing more online species information. Some of the changes highlighted in this newsletter are a result of these recommendations. We've also just finished a user survey, to help us better meet customer needs for online, generalized NHI data. You can find more recommendations from the external advisory group and other information about the process on our website.

Photo by Thomas Meyer.

Staff have been working hard to improve our online information about rare species. The new species pages are now ready for use! The new pages feature comprehensive information consolidated from several locations into one easy-to-find site, and also include information formerly accessible only through the NHI Portal. We've also added range maps and provided links to additional online resources for each species. We hope these new rare species pages will be helpful to you. They are a work in progress - with over 1,000 species on the Working List, limited information is available for many species now but additional information will be added over time. More detailed information is already available for all of the rare plants, as well as the threatened and endangered animals. Please let us know if you have problems, suggestions, or other types of information you'd like to see on these pages.

Photo by Thomas Meyer.

To help those DNR staff concerned primarily with potential impacts of proposed projects to aquatic or wetland-associated species, we've added a column on the NHI Portal data printout for the project area that indicates whether each species/habitat is found in or associated with an ASNRI (Area of Special Natural Resource Interest). If there are additional changes to the Portal that would be helpful to you, please email Rori Paloski.

For those external customers who do not have access to the NHI Portal but would still like to create individualized maps which include generalized rare species data, and for DNR staff who may need to create individualized maps that include data on rare species suitable for distribution to any audience, read on. You can easily and quickly create your own maps using the interactive mapping tool available on the Aquatic and Terrestrial Resources Inventory (ATRI) site. The NHI County Maps are included as a layer in this application (click on "Endangered Resources"), and can be applied with other layers (e.g., land cover, roads, rivers and lakes, DNR lands, county and national forests) to create individualized maps to meet your specific needs. If you have questions about this application, please contact Jill Rosenberg at 608-266-2499.

Photo of Hine's Emerald Dragonfly.
Photo by Kathryn Kirk.

We've added information on our website about permits issued by or associated with the Endangered Resources Program, including Endangered & Threatened Species Permits, Falconry Permits, and Ginseng Harvest Licenses among others. We have also posted a notice here about the application fee ($100) for Incidental Take Permits that is required by state law and was implemented July 1, 2009. If you have questions about Incidental Take Permits, please contact Rori Paloski.

Photo of Common five-lined skink.
Photo by Dave Nedrelo.

A few changes have been made recently to the NHI Working list as part of the regular updating process. As a result, you may notice a few name changes and a few new Special Concern species when you’re looking in the NHI Portal. You can find an updated list (changes are in bold) here. We've also updated the NHI Sensitive Species, Natural Communities, and Natural Features list for DNR staff. This list is available by clicking "Data Sharing Guidance" on the left sidebar of the NHI Portal for both internal and external users. These are species, natural communities, and animal aggregation sites that are particularly vulnerable to disturbance or destruction. Please make sure to generalize information to the geographic scale shown in the table whenever discussing these elements with the public. Thank you for your continued efforts to protect these rare species and natural communities in Wisconsin!