Description
The Oregon Natural Heritage Act designated the Oregon Biodiversity Information Center (ORBIC), currently located at Portland State University, as the State agency responsible for rare and endangered plants and animals and plant community information in Oregon. ORBIC is the clearing house and central repository that maintains Oregons most comprehensive database of rare, threatened and endangered species. ORBIC has partnered with the BLM, and other Federal and State agencies for the past 20 years on coordination of data, landscape vegetation mapping, plant community classification and information, rare species and climate change spatial modelling, and assessments and monitoring of rare species found in the State of Oregon. ORBIC has provided assistance using advanced remote sensing techniques and plant community sampling along with detailed training data to identify the potential locations of these habitats on public lands within the range of plant and animal species. Part of ORBICs mission is to provide access to statewide information on special status and invasive species locations, population status, and threats so as to effectively manage these species on public lands. Many agencies coordinate with ORBIC on a system to identify, rank and maintain information on rare and invasive species across all public lands within the State of Oregon. This information has been crucial for development of the species rankings following the national Natureserve system, as well as to land managers, across multiple jurisdictions, of rare plants and plant communities, as well as wildlife on public lands in Oregon, and to provide for biologically diverse landscapes on public lands for the benefit of natural, scenic, scientific and historic values. The objective of this program is to coordinate public biodiversity information within the State of Oregon, specifically: 1. House and maintain rare and invasive species, and plant community information in Oregon. This includes maintaining tabular and spatial data, assessing the conservation status of species, trends and threats, determining the risks from climate change to species, and integrating Federal and State botanical, fish and wildlife data into the standardized database. 2. Develop and maintain a program to engage citizen-scientists and students in rare plant, pollinator, wildlife or other at-risk species population monitoring to inform status assessment, and to improve the currency of distribution and status information for rare species. 3. Develop and update detailed and accurate models and maps of rare species habitat use and distribution across Oregon.