Welcome to Pennsylvania Conservation Explorer—a one stop shop for conservation planning and PNDI environmental review. The Explorer provides conservation information on biological diversity, protected lands, streams and other natural resources for planning purposes and also allows users to screen a project area for potential impacts to threatened, endangered, and special concern species.

The Conservation Explorer was updated on October 29, 2023. Some users may encounter issues with the map following the update. We recommend clearing your internet cache to resolve the issue. 

Important Notice for PNDI Users. If you already had an account on the PNDI Environmental Review Tool you will need to request a new password to activate your Conservation Explorer account. Your old username and password will no longer work. Follow this link for step by step instructions on requesting a new password. If you have any issues accessing your account contact us at RA-HERITAGEGIS@state.pa.us.

Conservation Planning: The Explorer allows users to access conservation planning information without having to log in. Here, users will see locations of natural heritage areas, protected lands and high quality streams. Users can prepare a conservation report for use in local planning or project specific assessment. Click here for Conservation Planning.

PNDI Environmental Review: To access Pennsylvania Natural Diversity Inventory (PNDI) information for environmental review purposes, users will be required to register and login. To register, click on Create new account. After logging in, users will be able to view the same information as Conservation Planning, but they will also see PNDI species and habitat information. After viewing information in their project area, users can screen their project for potential impacts to PNDI species and obtain a PNDI Receipt with conservation measures, avoidance measures and next steps. If users obtain a PNDI receipt, a convenience charge of $40 per project, payable by credit card, will be applied. Click here for PNDI Environmental Review.

PA Natural Heritage Program