Michigan Natural Features Inventory Working to Identify Michigan’s Native Treasures

From the MNFI 2002 Annual Report

he Michigan Natural Features Inventory (MNFI) gathers, stores and provides information and expertise on the natural features of Michigan. MNFI’s comprehensive database tracks the location and status of Michigan’s threatened and endangered species and its array of natural ecosystems. The information is gathered through field inventories and from other scientists and naturalists and translated into educational programs and materials, management recommendations, and impact evaluations for land managers and private landowners. The program’s science and technology experts facilitate use of the information in decision processes such as prioritizing conservation activities and management and land use planning.

MNFI is supported by a partnership of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources Wildlife Division (DNR Wildlife), Michigan State University Extension (MSUE) and The Nature Conservancy (TNC). DNR Wildlife has provided a core contract for information services, office space and other support since the program’s initiation. MSUE provides the program’s institutional home and limited financial support. TNC, the program’s original institutional home, has provided substantial gifts for the program’s continuation. MNFI is a member of NatureServe [www.natureserve.org/index.jsp], an organization connecting a network of similar “natural heritage programs” in all 50 U.S. states, the Navajo Nation, Canadian provinces and territories, and 11 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. MNFI completed its 22nd year of operation and its second full year in MSUE in September 2002. Each year, MNFI leverages the DNR core contract with other grants and contracts that provide funding for inventories, analyses, database improvements, and educational products and programming. In 2002, the program brought in four times the core in other grants and contracts.

The currency of MNFI’s information on biological diversity is “element occurrences,” or “EOs” for short. This term refers to locations known to house imperiled animal or plant species or high quality natural communities. Each year, MNFI scientists spend the majority of April through September conducting field surveys to find new EOs and confirm old records. The 2002 field season set new records for the number of MNFI employees in the field and the number of sites visited. This was in large part due to three new projects with the DNR Wildlife Division, each with significant inventory components. To gear up for the record season, MNFI hired 11 short-term field assistants and recruited 30 volunteers. The added staff increased administrative workload dramatically, making for an intense spring and summer in the office as well.

Check out the MNFI at
www.dnr.state.mi.us/wildlife/heritage/mnfi/

Contents

Design by Kenny King.