By using Geographic Information Systems, they keep track of all the rare, threatened, endangered and invasive plants of Maine. The benefit of the MNAP is immense. Using Geographic Information Systems to monitor rare plants is the most effective way to store the vast amount of information that the Natural Areas Program has collected and received over several years. They can just fill out a form or call to provide the information needed. An expert for the MNAP will then travel to the site to catalogue the species and, of course, to make sure it is in fact one of Maine s rare plants.
Information is stored as tabular data as well as visual data, which can be interpreted more easily.
Rare plants are not the only things that the MNAP keeps data on. There are also Natural Resource Assessments of Maine s Biophysical Regions, which is where the Landscape Analysis is useful. Areas identified by MNAP may be as small as a few acres but are typically in the range of 50-500 acres. I hope someday to be part of the Maine Natural Areas Program team in order to help protect and spread the word about the importance of Maine s diversity. MNAP also provides several brochures, pamphlets, and publications about Maine s rare and invasive plant species.