"2017 has been a year of change. As our scientists often say, “change is the new normal.” With each day that passes, the forces of global change—the warming climate, expanding human footprint, and loss of forests, grasslands, shores, and waters—threaten biodiversity and all life that depends on it.
These changes have made NatureServe’s mission more timely and urgent now than ever. Building on our 40 years of experience in the collection, curation, interpretation and dissemination of biodiversity information, the NatureServe Network is uniquely well positioned to guide conservation into the future.
One thing that will not change is NatureServe’s commitment to discover, innovate and conserve. Our Network’s discoveries over the past year range from the first ever record of a black-colored maned wolf in Brazil, to a startling discovery of the population decline in hawk moths in the Northeastern United States, to a better understanding of Canada’s 38 birds and 37 mammals that are globally at risk, including the swift fox, hoary bat, Sprague’s pipit and piping plover. Innovative products such as SeedSmart allow land managers to determine where to source plants that will be more likely to thrive in a changing climate. Conservationists can now access EcoVeg, our systematic, dynamic catalog of ecosystem types across the Americas. Our public-private collaborations empower decision-makers with knowledge on which species are in decline, such as the medicinal plant goldenseal, or with predictions on climate change impacts in places such as the Golden State of California.
Through your support of the NatureServe Network, you are helping to create a world where everyone has access, at their fingertips, to up-to-date knowledge about Earth’s unique, rare, and threatened species and habitats."
- - NatureServe Board Chair Nicole Firlotte