Welcome to the Iowa Natural Areas Inventory (INAI) Interactive Website. Created by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, this site combines current Web and GIS technologies to bring threatened, endangered, special concern, and selected rare species data and maps to professional natural resource managers as well as to the public.
Information in the database is from a variety of sources, including surveys to locate rare plants and animals in their natural habitats, collection of information from museums, herbariums, and scientific literature, and observations from naturalists around the state. Over 8000 records are contained in the database, ranging from historical observations made in the 1800s to present day sightings. Records in the complete INAI Database are protected as "ecologically sensitive sites" within the Open Records Law (Iowa Code 22.7(21)) and are used by professional natural resource managers to identify opportunities for conservation, to improve natural resource management, and to conduct environmental reviews to avoid conflicts between development and listed species.
An educational version of the database is open to public viewing. Using the query page, you may create a map showing the distribution of individual species among counties across the state and you may also generate a list of species within individual counties. Brief profiles describing habitat preference, threats to survival, recommended management practices, and a photograph (if available) are provided as PDF documents for many of the species as well.
For help on using the new INAI website click here.
Click here to query for INAI data and maps.
