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Montana Natural Heritage Program

Information Systems and Services

The Information Systems and Services Program (ISSP) develops and maintains the program’s data management system, web applications such as the Montana Field Guide and Map Viewer, and a variety of other web pages (e.g., dashboards and storymaps) that allow everyone to access the information managed in a user-friendly manner.  ISSP staff strive to support the Botany, Ecology, and Zoology programs in centralizing information that documents the distribution and conservation status of Montana’s species and habitats in a manner compatible with NatureServe and the network of natural heritage programs across the United States and Canada.  We do this, in part, through the development of Survey123 forms that allow partners to enter data digitally in the field on their smart phones and tablets and submit it directly to our data system.  We have also developed workflows to automate the incorporation of data gathered through popular citizen-science applications such as iNaturalist and eBird which incorporate a variety of audit reports to ensure data is credible and of high quality.

To efficiently manage the vast array of information in our data system and make sure that the latest information is easily accessible on our web sites, ISSP staff develop and maintain a variety of automated procedures using SQL, Python, and other coding languages.  These include: automated population of some database fields with triggers, nightly jobs, and tasks; automated creation of some Species of Concern occurrences based on species-specific rules; automated development of predicted habitat suitability models and associated reports; automated procedures that summarize a variety of information in our databases for jurisdictional boundaries across Montana; and nightly audit reports that identify data issues needing review by Botany, Ecology, and Zoology staff.

Finally, ISSP staff oversee mediated requests for Environmental Summary Reports designed to be a document of record in any environmental review, permitting, or planning process and for geodatabases of spatial information for an area of interest that can be used in a requestor’s local geographic information system.

Program highlights

  • Approaching 16,600 species in our data system.
  • Approaching half a million structured survey records.
  • Surpassed 5.2 million observation records of species (4.3 million for native species and approaching 1 million for non-native species).
  • Completed predicted habitat suitability models for 1,400 species and cumulative habitat suitability for the biodiversity of all vertebrates, all vascular plant Species of Concern, and all state-listed noxious weeds.
  • Created information dashboards for animals, plants, weeds, counties, and species with global conservation status ranks of G1 or G2 to support management efforts of various partners.
  • Launched new program website.
  • Created new database for tracking conservation status rank factors for all species.

Expertise

  • Database development and administration
  • Custom web application development
  • Geographic information systems (GIS)
  • Coding in SQL, Python, and R to support automated processes and custom workflows
  • Development of ArcGIS Survey123 forms
  • Dashboard development in both ArcGIS Experience Builder and Tableau
  • Biotics software used by the NatureServe network
  • Modeling species’ predicted habitat suitability
  • Taxonomy of Montana’s species and habitats

2024 Program Focus

  • Launch new version of Montana Field Guide in the Amazon Web Services environment with features to include spatially enabling using the county or QLL grid, and search based on morphological characteristics.
  • Update Map Viewer web application to include summaries of suitable habitat by land ownership type.
  • Update processing coding and workflows to automatically generate summaries of species and habitat information by a variety of standard jurisdictional boundaries that can be quickly displayed on websites.
  • Provide information support for Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks in their development of the 2025 State Wildlife Action Plan (SWAP).
  • Create Survey123 forms for gathering land cover and SWAP dashboard information.
  • Create new dashboards and/or storymaps for beaver, SWAP conservation efforts, grazing districts, iNaturalist, and invasive species.