County Natural Heritage Inventories

PNHP regularly performs inventories throughout Pennsylvania and reports on the critical biological resources that are found within Natural Heritage Areas (NHA). The County Natural Heritage Inventory (CNHI) reports resulting from this effort include an introduction to the ecology of the focal county, a description of methods used to collect data, and descriptions of each NHA in the county; including maps, images, lists of present species and natural communities, and conservation recommendations regarding their management and protection. CNHI reports are snapshots of the known biological information at the time of the inventory.

As data collection and reporting methods have changed over time, not all inventory reports are formatted in the same manner. However, they all provide information for the same purpose; namely to highlight the areas within each county which are known to host valuable components of Pennsylvania’s natural heritage and provide guidance for the continued conservation of these sites.

To access data which has been collected since the publication of the last compiled county report or to access individual NHA reports, users should visit the Conservation Explorer Map and turn on the “Natural Heritage Area: Core Habitat” layer. A list of the NHAs and site descriptions is available here. Many of our Natural Heritage Area Reports follow a new format. Learn how to fully utilize the information in Natural Heritage Area Reports here.

If you are a conservation professional with data that are not represented in one of our CNHI reports, please use this form to send us information you would like us to review for inclusion.