Want to know more about Montana's geography, geology, water, climate, plants or animals? The Montana Natural Resource Information System (NRIS), a program of the Montana State Library , makes information on natural resources easily and readily accessible by serving as a "one stop shop." Helping government agencies, businesses, and private citizens, NRIS operates a clearinghouse and referral service to link its users with the best sources of information and service.

What's new at NRIS...

December 12, 2002 The Fall edition of the Natural Heritage Program's newsletter, Opotimolocus, is now available as an Adobe PDF document.
November 19, 2002 NRIS and the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation (DNRC) are pleased to announce the availability of a new, enhanced, Water Rights Data Access system. The new system has updated reports for individual water rights but, most notably, will include 'near realtime' data updates.
November 15, 2002

New Natural Heritage Program Reports on the web:

- The effects of fire on Lemhi penstemon (Penstemon lemhiensis) - final monitoring report, 1995-2000, June 2001
- Monitoring Shoshonea pulvinata in the Pryor and Beartooth Mountains, Carbon County, MT, June 2001
- Monitoring Ute Ladies'-tresses (Spiranthes diluvialis), in Jefferson County, Montana, 1996-2000, June 2001
- Botanical survey of the Scratchgravel Hills, Lewis and Clark County, Montana, April 1998
- Conservation Status of Lomatium attenuatum Evert (Apiaceae) in Montana, January 1998
- Northern Bog Lemming Survey, 1993
- Preliminary Amphibian and Reptile Survey of the Ashland District, Custer National Forest: 1995, May 1996

View all of the Natural Heritage Program Reports here.

November 7, 2002 Celebrate GIS Day with NRIS on November 20! Open House and NRIS Seminar "Where On Earth Are My Water Rights?". Click Here for event details.
October 14, 2002 Elizabeth Roberts of American Wildlands to give a presentation on AWL's
"Corridors of Life" project at October 25 NRIS Seminar. Click Here for details.
October 16, 2002 New Natural Heritage Program Report on the web:
Northern Bog Lemming Survey, 1992
View all of the Natural Heritage Program Reports here.
October 10, 2002 Press Release Summary of the NRIS User Survey Results
October 9, 2002 Results from the NRIS User Survey conducted in September are now available.
October 9, 2002 New Natural Heritage Program Reports on the web:
Swan Valley Northern Bog Lemming Survey, January 1994 and Northern Bog Lemming Survey, January 1996
View all of the Natural Heritage Program Reports here.
September 30, 2002

New Aquatic Plant Community Information on the Natural Heritage Program website.

View additional Community Ecology Information.

September 30, 2002 New Natural Heritage Program Report on the web:
Harlequin Duck Research and Monitoring in Montana: 1999, March 2000
View all of the Natural Heritage Program Reports here.
September 24, 2002 New Natural Heritage Program Reports on the web:
Bats Surveys of Azure Cave and the Little Rocky Mountains, 1997-1998 and Preliminary Bat Inventory of Caves and Abandoned Mines on BLM Lands, Judith Mountains, Montana, January 2000.
View all of the Natural Heritage Program Reports here.
September 23, 2002 New Natural Heritage Program Reports on the web:
Northern bog lemmings: survey, population parameters, and population analysis, April 1997.
View all of the Natural Heritage Program Reports here.
September 4, 2002 County e911 Project Topic Of Next NRIS Seminar - September 20
August 30, 2002 NRIS User Survey launched.  In order for NRIS to continue evaluating and improving its information services, please take a moment to complete the following brief survey. This information will be used internally to help us continually provide services that are useful to people for understanding, managing, and enjoying Montana's natural resources. Survey results will be available on our website in October 9th. This information will also be used in the 2002 NRIS Annual Report. Your input is important to us! Thank you for responding. 
August 7, 2002

Community Ecology Information: The Natural Heritage Program has added information on Montana’s ecological communities to its web site. This new section includes a list of Montana’s plant community types and an interactive field guide describing many of those communities. There are also links to other sources of information on Montana’s ecology. You can access the Community Ecology information from the Natural Heritage home page at http://nhp.nris.state.mt.us/ or go directly to the Community section at http://nhp.nris.state.mt.us/community/index.htm.
July 24, 2002 Montana Soils Workshop Scheduled for August 23

Catherine Maynard, natural resource analyst for the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and Duane Anderson, GIS program manager of the Montana Natural Resource Information System (NRIS) will present a seminar, entitled, "An Introduction to Montana Soils Information." The seminar will include a description of available data, details on how to access and use them, and some examples of how these data may be applied to particular land management or use scenarios, The presentation is set for Friday, August 23 from 3:00 pm - 4:30 pm in the conference room of the Montana State Library at 1515 East 6th Avenue in Helena. More info.

July 16, 2002 NRIS is pleased to announce a new data resource for the Yellowstone River Corridor in Montana.  The web page, at /yellowstone/, provides data links for a variety of information resources for the Yellowstone River.
July 16, 2002 The Montana Fisheries Information System (MFISH), an update to the popular Montana Rivers Information System (MRIS) is now available.  This interactive Internet application, a joint venture of NRIS and MT Fish, Wildlife, and Parks provides access to a wealth of data from Fish, Wildlife, and Park's database on streams, and now, lakes.  The updated system has a new look, updated stream information, and now includes data on over 5,000 Montana lakes.
July 11, 2002 Movements and Mortality of American White Pelicans Fledged in Three Montana Colonies, June 2002.  View all of the Natural Heritage Program Reports here.
July 8, 2002 Ecological Communities on the Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge: Inventory and Review of Aspen and Wetlands Systems, June 2002. View all of the Natural Heritage Program Reports here.
July 3, 2002 We have loaded a new verson of the National Elevation Dataset in State Plane and UTM coordinates on our DEM Download Page, and have made a more precise floating-point version of the data available.
July 2, 2002 NRIS is pleased to announce that the new online Request Tracker application is available for your use. The Request Tracker can be used for requests related to NRIS, the Natural Heritage Program and the Water Information System.
July 2, 2002 Website Workshop Scheduled for July 12

Duane Anderson, GIS Program Manager of the Montana Natural Resource Information System (NRIS), is scheduled to lead a workshop to teach the public how to use its website applications. The presentation is set for Friday, July 12 from 3:00 pm - 4:30 pm in the conference room of the Montana State Library at 1515 East 6th Avenue in Helena. More info.

July 1, 2002 NRIS is pleased to announce the availability of the new Montana National Hydrography Dataset (NHD) web page.  This web page provides direct access to NHD data in Montana Stateplane NAD 83 coordinates.  The web page also contains information on how to use the NHD and links to USGS NHD web resources.
June 7, 2002 NRIS, in cooperation with DEQ, is pleased to announce the availability of the DRAFT YEAR 2002 303(d) LIST interactive query system.  This system allows online access to the draft list of water quality impaired streams on the 2002 list.  Earlier versions can be accessed here. 
June 5, 2002 NHD Seminar - June 28th, 2002. Duane Anderson, GIS Program Manager of the Montana Natural Resource Information System (NRIS), will present a seminar entitled, "An Introduction to the National Hydrography Dataset." His presentation is set for Friday, June 28 from 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm in the conference room of the Montana State Library at 1515 East 6th Avenue in Helena.
May 20, 2002 An updated version of the Ground-Water Information Center well database is now available.
May 10, 2002 The Spring edition of the Natural Heritage Program's newsletter, Opotimolocus, is now available.
May 8, 2002 Ecological Inventory of Wetland Sites in the Thompson-Fisher Conservation Easement, May 2002.View all of the Heritage Reports here.
May 8, 2002 NRIS Interactive Web Applications topic of seminar scheduled for May 24th
May 2, 2002 NRIS Advisory Council To Meet Tuesday, May 14th
April 17, 2002 Montana Wetlands Legacy Project Topic of NRIS Seminar, 3:00 pm, Friday, April 26 at the Montana State Library - more info
April 16, 2002 The Montana Natural Heritage Program in partnership with Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks announces the Montana Wetlands Legacy Website:
March 26, 2002 NRIS has added over 1,000 new Digital Orthophoto Quarter Quadrangle (DOQQ) images to the collection available at /nsdi/doq.asp.   These images are also available through the TopoFinder and Thematic Mapper.
March 21, 2002 The statewide Public Land Ownership data have been replaced with a newer version.
March 12, 2002 NRIS, in cooperation with NRCS is pleased to announce the availability of detailed NRCS soils data from a joint web site developed by the 2 groups.  The new website provides comprehensive links to data and data tools for users interested in the NRCS SSURGO and NASIS soil data.  Additional details are available here.
March 6, 2002 NRIS is pleased to announce our next monthly seminar series on March 22nd at the Montana State Library in Helena.  Stuart Blundell of Visual Learning Systems Inc., will make a presentation on the company's new ArcView extension called Feature Analyst.
February 28, 2002 Ecologically Significant Wetlands in the Upper Yellowstone River Watershed including the Boulder, Clarks Fork Yellowstone, Shields, and Stillwater River Drainages, August 2001is now available in PDF format. View all of the Heritage Reports here.
February 27, 2002 Biological Survey of a Prairie Landscape in Montana's Glaciated Plains, December 2001 is now available in PDF format. View all of the Heritage Reports here.
February 21, 2002 Ecological Inventory of Wetland Sites in the Thompson Chain of Lakes and Vicinity, November 2000 is now available in PDF format. View all of the Heritage Reports here.
February 7, 2002 Bird Distribution: NRIS Presentation on Friday, February 22 at 3:00 pm at the Montana State Library
February 1, 2002 The statewide Public Land Ownership data have been replaced with a newer version.
January 31, 2002 1:24,000 scale USGS Digital Line Graph Data is now available for the Greater Yellowstone Area
January 23, 2002 Nris Advisory Council to Meet
January 18, 2002 Presentation on Internet-accessible water rights data.
January 9, 2002 NRIS and NRCS and pleased announce the availability of the first water supply maps for 2002.  They are available here.
January 9, 2002 NRIS is pleased to announce that over 1,000 new Digital Orthophoto Quarter Quads (DOQQ's) are now available.  We now have DOQQ's for nearly 80% of the state.  These images are available for download here. These images are also available through the TopoFinder and Thematic Mapper.  See Press Release
December 18, 2001 The latest version of the Ground-Water Information Center well database is now available.  In addition, data enhancements have been made to the coverage to allow the display and viewing of water quality data from GWIC for wells which have water quality data: these data can be accessed and viewed via the NRIS Thematic Mapper.   See Press Release.
December 15, 2001 Vegetation patterns in the Salmon-Selway ecosystem, published by the Craighead Wildlife-Wildlands Institute, Missoula, MT, 2001. View all of the Heritage Plant Reports here.
December 12, 2001 Wildfire Succession In Plant Communities Natural to the Alkali Creek Vicinity, Charles M. Russell Wildlife Refuge, Montana, a recent report from the Montana Natural Heritage Program is now posted on the NRIS/Heritage web site as a PDF file. View all of the Heritage Reports here.
December 14, 2001 Presentation on Zoology Program
December 3, 2001 NRIS and DNRC are pleased to announce the availability of DNRC Water Rights data over the Internet!  This interactive system allows various queries and reports on water rights, as well as maps!  Check out the application HERE. DNRC water rights locations are also available through the NRIS Thematic Mapper.
November 14, 2001 NRIS sponsors GIS Day activities at area schools.  See the success story.
October 30, 2001 The newest versions of the Species of Concern Lists from the Montana Natural Heritage Program:
September 13, 2001
September 5, 2001 New High School and Elementary School District boundaries and enrollment data are now available.
August 30, 2001 The location of 170,000 wells from the Ground-Water Information Center may now be downloaded in ESRI shapefile format.
August 5, 2001 The statewide Public Land Ownership data have been replaced with a newer version.
July 30, 2001 NRIS is pleased to announce the availability of a fire information resource page on the NRIS site. The site can be accessed at /fire. The intent of the site is to facilitate ready access to Statewide NRIS GIS data holdings that are applicable to the preparation and dissemination of fire response maps and analyses. In addition, we've provided the main links to the other Rocky Mountain fire response participants.
July 20,2001 The Inventory of Important Biological Resources for the Upper Yellowstone River Watershed, a recent report from the Montana Natural Heritage Program is now posted on the NRIS/Heritage web site as a PDF file.
July 15, 2001 The NRIS Thematic Mapper has been enhanced to include a new Land Ownership coverage known as the Stewardship layer.  This layer is maintained by the Montana Natural Heritage Program and includes public and private easement data and special designations (research natural areas, wilderness areas, etc.), in addition to ownership data.  The thematic mapper allows users to query and extract this data in a variety of formats for the geographic areas they are interested in.
June 18, 2001 The NRIS Thematic Mapper has been enhanced to include block level Census population summaries from 1990 and 2000.  Using geographic searches, users can now compare 1990 and 2000 population densities and statistics.
May 21, 2001 The NRIS TopoFinder has been enhanced to add access to the digital orthophotos announced below.  Using the search tools provided by TopoFinder (map name, Lat/Long, named feature) you can view the topographic map and toggle to the aerial photo of the same location if a photo is currently available.  In addition, the system will provide a link to download the photo file of where the map is currently centered.   An aerial photo status map is available here.
May 10, 2001 Digital Orthophotos (Geo-referenced Aerial Photos) are now available in 24k quadrangle extents for nearly half of Montana.  More will be coming on-line soon.  Click here to view a current status map of available photos. 
April 10, 2001 The statewide Public Land Ownership data have been replaced with a newer version.
February 21, 2001 The Montana Drought Monitoring 2001 Web Site.
February 7, 2001 The 30-meter DEMs have been replaced by data from the National Elevation Dataset.
January 17, 2001 The 2000 TIGER Files are now available for download in ESRI Shapefile format.
January 10, 2001
NatureServe, a source for authoritative conservation information on more than 50,000 plants, animals, and ecological communities of the United States and Canada. NatureServe provides in-depth information on rare and endangered species, but includes common plants and animals too. NatureServe is a product of the Association for Biodiversity Information in collaboration with the Natural Heritage Network.
January 9, 2001 Get monthly Snow and Water Information with maps and reports developed with data from NRCS. Recreationalists, irrigators, fisheries personnel, and others including the Montana Drought Advisory Committee use this information to evaluate current and seasonal surface water supplies.
December 6, 2000 The 2001 Legislature Map is now available.
December 5, 2000 The Forest Service Research Natural Area (RNA) network protects some of the finest examples of natural ecosystems for the purposes of scientific study and education and for the maintenance of biological diversity. National Forests and Grasslands in 12 western states manage an exceptional suite of 263 established and 55 proposed Research Natural Areas.
December 1, 2000 Our new Corps of Engineers 404 Permit system is now available here .   This system allows users to locate 404 permits issued in Montana since 1990 and features the new NRIS Interactive Mapping Application.
December 1, 2000 We've updated our Quick Index to Interactive Applications, check it out here.
October 20, 2000 Our 1:100,000 scale Public Land Survey and land ownership data are now available as single, merged files for the whole state.   See the Detailed Statewide Data List for links to the two data sets in e00 or shapefile format.
October 20, 2000 A Gap Analysis of Montana, a 4 CD set published by the National Gap Analysis Office and produced by the Montana Gap Analysis Project, Wildlife Spatial Analysis Lab, Montana Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit, and The University of Montana is now available from NRIS. For a copy please send your name, address, and affiliation to NRIS.
October 16, 2000 Year 2000 Hunting Districts for Antelope, Bear, Deer - Elk - Mountain Lion are now available at /gis/datalist.html#ad.
September 18, 2000 TIFF images of all Montana's 1:24,000 scale quadrangles are now available in State Plane Coordinates, with their collars removed.   Quadrangle images in other formats and scales are available on our Digital Raster Graphics Page.
June 22, 2000 Three georeferenced, colored shaded relief images of Montana  are now available to download.
May 31, 2000 NRIS's 3 year Strategic Plan is now available on the web.
April 28, 2000 Montana Drought Monitoring 2000 Web Site 
April 20, 2000 DEQ, using technical and web support from NRIS, has deployed Environet, an interactive web query system allowing custom access (reports and maps) to the DEQ's Draft impaired waterbody information for the year 2000 (303d list).
March 28, 2000 We have a new map of Montana's Mountain Ranges.
February 9, 2000 Please take our Montana Watershed Information Access Survey.
February 9, 2000 New online "Montana Landowners Guide to Wetlands" in PDF format
January 21, 2000 90-meter Land Cover Pixels Classified from Landsat images for the GAP Analysis Project
January 14, 2000 Topo Finder - Check out a new interface for the USGS topographic maps. This systems lets you quickly find any township, range and section in the State and view the 24k topographic map for that section. It also provides a feature based search allowing queries on over 70,000 features in Montana!
January 5, 2000 We've added the 1:100,000 and 1:250,000 scale USGS topographic maps to our DRG page.
January 4, 2000 New Map Capabilities in MRIS ONLINE!   Maps generated by the system now display 1:100,000 quad maps as a background.
December 29, 1999 First Issue "Montana Volunteer Water Monitoring News" is now online.
November 22, 1999 Yellowstone River River Physical Features Inventory
November 1, 1999 Montana Rivers Information System, ONLINE!  The new system allows interactive queries, reporting, and mapping for detailed information on over 4,500 Montana streams.

This page gives a summary of recent changes, additions, and enhancements made to the NRIS web site.

We appreciate any comments you may have.

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