ICES conducts inventories for threatened and endangered plants and animals. In addition to federally endangered species (e.g. Karner blue butterfly), ICES has located many species listed at the state level as threatened and endangered: Designations of rareity are also given to species where concern about their viabiity exists although they are no yet recognized as being either threatened or endangered, termed species of Special Conern
Another designation arises from an interesting federal funding program to states that have developed State Wildlife Action Plans. Species of concern in these plans are termed Species of Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN). ICES has identified numerous SGCN including ornate box turtle, the snakes blue racer and bull snake, and birds including red-headed woodpecker and whip-poor-will that were nesting.
In another project, a total of eight threatened and 10 special concern plant species were located. These occurred within 96 miles of highway r/w comprising 21 distinct prairie remnants wherein a total of 671 plant species were observed overall. These remants were mapped at 1:400 scale identifying the location of protected species, vegetation trends, and inclusive of management recommendations.
