BACKGROUND The New York Natural Heritage Program (NYNHP) is a program of the Research Foundation for the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY- ESF) whose mission is to facilitate the conservation of New York's biodiversity by providing comprehensive information and scientific expertise on rare species and natural ecosystems. NYNHP works in partnership with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and other state, federal, and private organizations involved in natural resource management, land protection and stewardship, and advancing the conservation of biodiversity. The New York Natural Heritage Program uses an integrated web-enabled platform, Biotics 5, for tabular and spatial data management. Hosted in a shared cloud e