Virginia Natural Heritage Program

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Virginia Natural Heritage Program

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Contact information, map and directions, contact form, opening hours, services, ratings, photos, videos and announcements from Virginia Natural Heritage Program, Public & Government Service, 600 E Main, 24th Floor, Richmond, VA.

DCR's Natural Heritage Program is a comprehensive effort to save VA's native plant and animal life and the ecosystems upon which they depend through inventory, conservation information provision, protection and stewardship.

10/21/2026

Virginia Natural Heritage Program’s Fast Fact: Invasive Species Mapped

Natural Heritage staff actively monitor Natural Area Preserves and other lands in Virginia for species listed on the Virginia Invasive Plant Species List. As of early October 2026, staff have identified and mapped 1033 observations of 56 listed species. Efforts to map further species and to treat species already identified are ongoing.

Photo: Two-horned trapa (Trapa bispinosa) and common reed (Phragmites australis) are two priority species for agency mapping endeavors.

10/19/2026

On October 12, as part of the continuing 40th anniversary celebration events, Natural Heritage offered a free kayak trip on the Northwest River paddle along the edge of the Northwest River Natural Area Preserve, which is only accessible by water. This event was made possible by collaborating with Virginia State Park’s Let’s Go Adventures Program. Bay Experience Educators brought their adventure van, with kayaks in tow, to a private launch on the river, allowing us to get seven folks from as far away as Charlottesville to join our coastal paddle. Northwest River Natural Area Preserve was the eleventh preserve in the state system and boasts globally and state rare wetland natural communities. Biodiversity abounds in this watershed, and paddlers enjoyed the fall foliage of the tupelos and bald cypress and the colorful fruits of an array of shrubs and vines.

10/09/2026

Natural Heritage 40th anniversary items are available for purchase at several state parks. As a part of the Natural Heritage 40th anniversary celebration, state parks are highlighting these items in their gift shops to increase awareness about the Virginia Natural Heritage Program. The following state parks have Natural Heritage stickers, magnets, T-shirts, hiking medallions and Christmas ornaments designed by Natural Heritage staff and a local artist: First Landing, Natural Bridge, Grayson Highlands, Clinch River, Pocahontas, Douthat, Kiptopeke, and False Cape. We appreciate the collaboration and partnership with state parks in celebrating this important milestone.

10/08/2026

On September 27, DCR’s Chesapeake Bay Region Supervisor, Zach Bradford, led a field trip at Grafton Ponds Natural Area Preserve for 15 attendees. This field trip was part of a series of events celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Virginia Natural Heritage Program. Grafton Ponds Natural Area Preserve, owned by the City of Newport News and co-managed with DCR, protects a complex of seasonal depression ponds formed by the collapse of an underlying fossil shell layer and is home to numerous extraordinarily rare plants, animals, and vegetation communities. In addition to visiting one of Virginia’s only populations of Pondspice (Litsea aestivalis), the field trip attendees also learned about pond formation, hydrology, and how natural ponds are valuable to the study of paleoclimate and paleoecology. Steve Living, Habitat Education Coordinator with the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources, assisted with the field trip and provided information about Grafton Ponds Natural Area Preserve’s amphibians and their ecology.

There are more events happening, find an adventure and sign up today in the link in comments

10/07/2026

Virginia Natural Heritage Program’s Fast Fact: The Virginia Pollinator Smart Program

(https://www.dcr.virginia.gov/natural-heritage/pollinator-smart) is a voluntary state certification initiative that encourages solar energy developers to plant native vegetation instead of traditional turf grass underneath and around solar panels. The benefits from the planting of native pollinator species include soil and water health, increased biodiversity, carbon sequestration, maintenance savings, increase in energy production and more. The Virginia Pollinator Smart Review Board is made up of various state agencies, academia, and organizations including DCR, DEQ, DWR, the College of William and Mary and the Flora of Virginia. Currently there are six solar facilities in Virginia that are certified pollinator smart with some facilities receiving certification at multiple stages of the program.

10/06/2026

On September 17, Coastal Region Stewardship staff transported students from the University of Richmond to strategic locations at North Landing River Natural Area Preserve to sample invasive Common Reed (Phragmites australis). This collaboration was facilitated by the DNH Invasive Species Coordinator, Kevin Heffernan, who also joined for the day’s sampling activities. The samples collected, under a Research and Collection Permit, will be returned to the university lab and used for genetic analyses to confirm their native/invasive lineage. This offered an excellent field experience for the eleven students and their professor, and the results will be shared with Natural Heritage, enhancing our knowledge of this species at this preserve and informing management efforts.

10/05/2026

On September 29, Natural Heritage’s Karst Protection Coordinator, Wil Orndorf, was recognized as a 2025 Recovery Champion by the US Fish and Wildlife Service for the Northeast Region. This award recognizes USFWS staff and their partners whose work is advancing the recovery of endangered and threatened species of plants and animals. Wil’s contributions to the protection of the Madison Cave Isopod and the Lee County Cave Isopod were noted, along with his decades of work promoting the conservation of cave and karst resources in the Commonwealth and beyond. For more information: see the 2025 Recovery Champion website in the comments.

Congratulations to Wil!!

10/02/2026

On September 22 and 23, Rene’ Hypes, Natural Heritage Environmental Review Coordinator/Pollinator Smart team member, participated in the Mid-Atlantic Native Seed Partnership Meeting in Maryland. Various organizations, academia and local, state, and federal agencies attended the meeting including DCR, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service(NRCS), Mt. Cuba Center, Rutgers University Virginia Tech, The Clifton Institute, Maryland Department of Forestry, USFWS, Montgomery Parks (Pope Farm Nursery), the Mid-Atlantic Regional Seed Bank (MARSB) and the Northeast Native Seed Network. The focus of the meeting was how to increase native seed/plant availability on a regional scale through collaborative partnership.

The two-day meeting included tours of native plant species demonstration plots at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, the NRCS Norman A. Berg National Plant Materials Center, and the CMREC-Clarksville Facility. These demonstration plots are used for research and educational purposes for NRCS and the University of Maryland Extension Office. In addition to the plots tour, a demonstration of the seed processing equipment at the NRCS Plants Materials Center was conducted with participants engaging in hands-on activities involved in the processing of native seed. During the second day of the meeting, presentations were made by several different organizations including a presentation by Sam Droege of the USGS Eastern Ecological Science Center on what native species to plant to attract native bee specialist species.
The purpose of the Mid-Atlantic Native Seed Partnership is to “to connect and support seed collectors, growers, researchers, and land stewards in building a diverse, source-identified native seed supply to meet restoration needs in the Mid-Atlantic”. The partnership encompasses the following states: Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and D.C.

10/01/2026

On September 18, Natural Heritage Public Access Coordinator, Wes Paulos, and Friends of Rockbridge Climbing (F.O.R.C.), a coalition of rock climbers that are dedicated to helping manage climbing at Goshen Pass Natural Area Preserve, worked on a climbing access trail. This work entailed moving a 300-pound rock with rigging and setting several smaller rocks to create four new steps. Steps typically take much longer to build than trail tread due to safety concerns and use of highly technical skills. Rigging helps to mitigate some safety concerns but takes time to install properly. The access trail will create a sustainable path to the base of the Maury River wall, a long-appreciated feature of the preserve. We appreciate F.O.R.C. for their dedication, hard work, expertise, and collaboration. Dedicated volunteers are often the backbone to many successful DCR projects.

09/30/2026

Virginia Natural Heritage Program’s Fast Fact: Deer Management on Natural Area Preserves

Large deer populations are a well-documented threat to native plant diversity and numerous rare plants in Virginia. To better protect rare plants from deer browsing, the Division of Natural Heritage in partnership with the Department of Wildlife Resources is expanding deer management on Natural Area Preserves across the Commonwealth.

Photo Caption: Deer browsed the flower from this critically imperiled Addison’s Leatherflower. Without a flower, plants cannot produce seeds.

Address

600 E Main, 24th Floor
Richmond, VA
23219

Telephone

+18047867951

Website

http://www.dcr.virginia.gov/natural-heritage

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