"most programs only focus inventory efforts on species that are considered globally rare, federally protected, state/provincially rare, or state/provincially protected"


From: Jason McNees
Date: Mon, Dec 2, 2013 at 11:50 AM
Subject: NatureServe Explorer comment re: creek chubs

Hi Philip,

This is in response to the comment you submitted recently stating:

Creek Chubs are found all over Michigan. see http://www.dnr.state...maps/sematr.pdf

A couple of notes about the watershed distribution data you see on the site…
· The watershed map that you see under the “Distribution” section represents only the native watershed range of U.S. species, and not introduced portions of ranges. For example, the range that is shown for largemouth bass is much more limited than where you will actually find it b/c it has been introduced just about everywhere, but the map shows only it’s native distribution. If the native range of creek chub is under-represented for MI, then I’ve cc:ed Margaret Ormes b/c she is the person who manages that information.
· The tabular list of watersheds you see under the distribution section and the watershed map include the watersheds you see in the map, as well as any known mapped populations that we aggregate from our network of Natural Heritage member programs across all the states/provinces (indicated by a “+” symbol) that might be outside of the “native” range. However, most programs only focus inventory efforts on species that are considered globally rare, federally protected, state/provincially rare, or state/provincially protected, and there often tends to be little or no location data tracked for common species that don’t fit that criteria. This species is both globally common (G5) and state common in Michigan (S5) and is not protected, so our network program in Michigan (Michigan Natural Features Inventory - http://mnfi.anr.msu.edu/) is not tracking specific distribution data for it (which the watershed data is based on).

Not sure if that explains it but let us know if you have questions.

Regards,

Jason

Jason McNees
Conservation Data Analyst
NatureServe
4600 N. Fairfax Dr., 7th Floor, Arlington, VA 22203

Not entirely surprising. I think it it is a great resource, and like one of many, should be treated as such, though not an authority.