Natural Heritage Program

What's New?

• New keys to the vegetation of Washington
WA Natural Heritage Program ecologists have published two new keys to the vegetation of Washington State: The Key to Upland Plant Associations of Puget Sound Drainage Basin and the Key to Wetland and Riparian Plant Associations of Washington State. These documents help users to identify fine-scale ecosystem types using the US National Vegetation Classification. Note that these documents update and replace the keys in “Riparian Vegetation Classification of the Columbia Basin, Washington” (Crawford 2003), “Upland plant associations of the Puget Trough ecoregion, Washington” (Chappell 2006a), “Plant Associations of Balds and Bluffs of Western Washington” (Chappell 2006b), “San Juan Island National Historical Park Vegetation Classification and Mapping Project Report” (Rocchio et al. 2012), and “Revised Vegetation Classification for Mount Rainier, North Cascades, and Olympic National Parks” (Ramm-Granberg et al. 2021).

• Wetland Ecosystem Climate Change Vulnerability Assessments (WetEco CCVA)
WA Natural Heritage Program ecologists have developed an assessment framework for estimating the climate change vulnerability of mid-scale wetland ecosystem types to inform management, conservation, and regulatory decisions for increased climate resilience. A demonstration assessment has been completed for one US National Vegetation Classification wetland group: North Pacific Open Bog & Acidic Fen (G284).

About Our Program

Out of concern for the loss of Washington's biodiversity, the Legislature passed the Natural Area Preserves Act in 1972. The Act created the Washington Natural Heritage Program (WNHP) to (1) identify which species and ecosystems in the state are rare; (2) maintain a database of their locations; (3) make this information available for conservation, management, and land use decision makers and selection of natural areas; and (4) develop and maintain a statewide register of natural areas which protects representative examples of Washington's biodiversity. Although housed within DNR, the WNHP is a statewide resource, working across all ownerships. Local, state, and federal agencies use Natural Heritage data to inform policy decisions, regulatory permitting, and federal listings of threatened and endangered species. In addition to DNR natural area preserves and natural resource conservation areas, the state register of natural areas also includes natural areas managed by other state agencies, federal agencies, and non-governmental organizations. Natural Heritage data is critical for the selection, management, and protection of all natural areas in this network. DNR uses Natural Heritage data to maintain forest certification (e.g., Sustainable Forestry Initiative), implement the Policy for Sustainable Forests, Forest Practice application reviews, and to guide the selection of new natural areas. The State of Washington Natural Heritage Plan, a document compiled by the WNHP every few years, provides more information about WNHP's work and its critical role in conservation of Washington's biodiversity.

To prioritize the conservation needs of the species and ecosystems of Washington, WNHP uses methods shared by NatureServe and a network of natural heritage programs. Information for priority species and ecosystems comes from a wide variety of sources, including government agencies, conservation organizations, consultants, and extensive fieldwork and research by WNHP staff. Site-specific and species/ecosystem-specific information is maintained in the Natural Heritage Information System, an integrated database that currently contains more than 7,000 records of rare species and rare/high quality ecological communities. This data is available to the public via the WNHP Data Explorer.

Washingtonians identify with the natural beauty and biodiversity of our state; recreating and connecting with nature from our coastline and mountains to sagebrush desert and grasslands. By conserving our native species and ecosystems, we can ensure that future generations inherit the Washington that we know today.