Oregon Plant Atlas
The Atlas mapping program allows the user to generate customized plant distribution maps, as well as access information for each plant occurrence. Over 493,000 records in the Atlas databases provide the data to create plant distribution maps. The current Atlas version uses a dataset compiled 13 April 2007. The taxonomy reflected in this version is based on the proposed Vascular Plant Checklist.
To use the Oregon Plant Atlas mapping program press:
User’s Guide to the Oregon Plant Atlas (PDF document)
For in-depth articles about many aspects of the Atlas, see the Oregon Flora Newsletter Vol.10, Issue 2&3.
Information the Atlas provides
The Oregon Plant Atlas combines the information from plant records with maps of the state of Oregon. A record is all the information recorded about a plant that is collected for a herbarium specimen or observed when making a species list. It includes the observer or collector's name, date, locality, habitat and other information. Clicking on a location symbol reveals details, including all taxa included in a species list or all data transcribed from a herbarium specimen label. Four Oregon background maps are available, depicting landforms, ecoregions, mean annual precipitation, and county lines.
Sources of data
Distribution data for the Atlas mapping program are based on vouchered (records that are derived from herbarium specimens) and unvouchered (ones that do not have a collected specimen; i.e., taken from an observation for a species list) records. These are clearly distinguished on the maps. Species lists are contributed by individuals, the Native Plant Society of Oregon, governmental agencies and other organizations. Vouchered records were generously provided by the following herbaria:
| Albertson College of Idaho | CIC |
| Bureau of Land Management Burns Dist | BLMB |
| Bureau of Land Management Coos Bay Dist | BLMC |
| Bureau of Land Management Lakeview Dist | BLMLK |
| Bureau of Land Management Medford Dist | BLMM |
| Central Oregon Community College | COCC |
| Eastern Oregon University | EOSC |
| Harvard University | GH, A, AMES, ECON |
| Lane Community College | LCEU |
| Linfield College | LINF |
| New York Botanical Garden | NY |
| Oregon State University Herbaria | OSC, ORE, WILLU |
| Portland State University | HPSU |
| Southern Oregon University | SOC |
| University of Washington | WTU |
| USFS Northeastern Oregon Herbarium | BAKER |
| Utah State University | UTC |
| Washington State University | WS |
The people involved
The mapping program is a Java applet written by Clayton Gautier. The applet and its supporting databases are hosted by NACSE, with special assistance from Sherry Pittam. The twelve Atlas Project Leaders that help guide the development of the Oregon Plant Atlas have expertise in biogeography, statistics, computer programming, ecology, cartography, and plant systematics. The project is a partnership between the Oregon Flora Project and the Native Plant Society of Oregon (NPSO). The NPSO has appointed Wilbur Bluhm as the NPSO Statewide Atlas Field Coordinator. Partial funding for the Atlas has been provided by the Bureau of Land Management, the National Science Foundation, and the Pacific Northwest Research Station Forest Inventory and Analysis Program of the US Forest Service.