NatureServe, Inc. is a non-profit organization based in Arlington County, Virginia, US, that provides proprietary wildlife conservation-related data, tools, and services to private and government clients, partner organizations, and the public. NatureServe reports being "headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, with regional offices in four U.S. locations and in Canada." In calendar year 2011 they reported having 86 employees, 6 volunteers, and 15 independent officers. History The Nature Conservancy reports that in 2000 it spun off its 85-center Natural Heritage Network "into a new independent organization, the Association for Biodiversity Information (later renamed NatureServe)." NatureServe reports that it was established in 1994 as the Association for Biodiversity Information. In 2001 the IRS approved a name change to NatureServe that was requested in 1999, while maintaining the organization's 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status granted in July 1995. NatureServe's website declares that it is a 501(c)(3) non-profit, tax-exempt corporation incorporated in 1999 as a Washington, DC Nonprofit Corporation. Programs NatureServe's programs focus on four main areas: Documenting the conservation status and location of species and ecosystems Producing analyses to guide conservation planning Developing software tools to guide conservation planning Managing natural heritage programs and conservation data centers NatureServe partners with IUCN Red List, the accepted standard for worldwide imperiled species classification, providing coordination assistance and data from their own assessments to the IUCN's conservation assessments, and working together on ongoing assessments. NatureServe Explorer is a web-based database provides public access to NatureServe's proprietary information on US and Canadian ecosystems and plant, animal, and fungus species. This includes ranked NatureServe conservation status assessment data on state, national, and global levels, considered a leading classification of imperiled species in the United States. Infonatura was a nearly identical service providing information on Latin American wildlife and ecosystems. NatureServe maintains the National Vegetation Classification Standard for the United States as well as the International Classification of Ecological Communities, currently focused on the Western Hemisphere. LandScope America (landscope.org) is an online resource bringing together diverse conservation-related data to assist in land and water use planning. It is a collaborative program from NatureServe and the National Geographic Society. The NatureServe network The natural heritage network now supported by NatureServe, began in 1974 with the creation of the South Carolina Heritage Trust. After working with Patrick Noonan, president of The Nature Conservancy (TNC), to arrange the donation of the Santee Coastal Reserve, Joseph Hudson, chairman of South Carolina’s Wildlife and Marine Resources Department,