Wow, they have been busy at the State CNPS office! State CNPS Rare Plant Program Director Aaron Sims gave a demonstration of the newly redesigned and updated online CNPS Inventory of Rare and Endangered Plants of California at the recent statewide CNPS Chapter Council meeting, and I was so impressed! This new version has so many more features, is so easy to use, and is so much more complete. The help page also has a ton of information about the new features and how to use them. Here are the release notes, which capture the changes nicely.
Highlights of changes from the previous online version:
- Mobile friendly—take the Online Inventory with you!
- Full data search bar is now included at the top menu on every page for quick access to make new searches.
- Easier to access links and a new Download Report function for every plant’s details.
- Intuitive search display: add or remove columns by button clicking, single-click column sorting, and simple drag and drop column re-ordering.
- New “Other Status” section includes information imported from the California Natural Diversity Database (CNDDB) on seeds that have been banked as part of the California Plant Rescue initiative, BLM Sensitive, US Forest Service Sensitive, and IUCN Red List.
- Maps are back and selecting quads on a map in Advanced Search has never been easier!
- Regular imports of rare plant quads and counties from the CNDDB, including updated quads and counties for all CRPR 3 and 4 plants.
- New Help page describes how to search and view data.
- Fully updated Glossary—all data fields are now fully described.
- Completely new Status Review Documents page! Download PDF copies of CNPS status reviews published since 2003.
- Three plant photos instead of one.
Have fun exploring the diversity of our wonderful California rare plants.
— Cathy Chambers, Rare Plant Committee Chair, CNPS East Bay Chapter
July 2021
