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Species of Greatest Conservation Need National Database

Metadata Updated: October 29, 2025

The Species of Greatest Conservation Need National Database is an aggregation of lists from State Wildlife Action Plans. Species of Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN) are wildlife species that need conservation attention as listed in action plans. In this database, we have validated scientific names from original documents against taxonomic authorities to increase consistency among names enabling aggregation and summary. This database does not replace the information contained in the original State Wildlife Action Plans. The database includes SGCN lists from 56 states, territories, and districts, encompassing action plans spanning from 2005 to 2022. State Wildlife Action Plans undergo updates at least once every 10 years by respective wildlife agencies. The SGCN list data from these action plans have been compiled in partnership with individual wildlife management agencies, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies. The SGCN National Database consists of three data tables: "source_data", "process_data", and "validated_data". Most users will likely find the "sgcn_species_all_records" table that combines all three tables most useful to compare "source_" names and "validated_" names and to aggregate and summarize using validated names. The "source_data" table provides an archive of all SGCN records listed by conservation authorities over multiple actions plans, which includes the scientific names, common names, locations, and year of action plan. The "process_data" table incorporates processing information, including the archiving and processing dates along with persistent identifiers used for record documentation, while the "validated_data" table provides the taxonomic identities from the matched taxonomic source, including the standardized scientific name, common name, and taxonomic ranks as well as links to supplementary taxonomic information.

Access & Use Information

Public: This dataset is intended for public access and use. License: No license information was provided. If this work was prepared by an officer or employee of the United States government as part of that person's official duties it is considered a U.S. Government Work.

Downloads & Resources

Dates

Metadata Created Date September 12, 2025
Metadata Updated Date October 29, 2025

Metadata Source

Harvested from DOI USGS DCAT-US

Additional Metadata

Resource Type Dataset
Metadata Created Date September 12, 2025
Metadata Updated Date October 29, 2025
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Maintainer
Identifier http://datainventory.doi.gov/id/dataset/usgs-655288d7d34ee4b6e05c390a
Data Last Modified 2024-10-22T00:00:00Z
Category geospatial
Public Access Level public
Bureau Code 010:12
Metadata Context https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.jsonld
Metadata Catalog ID https://ddi.doi.gov/usgs-data.json
Schema Version https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
Catalog Describedby https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.json
Harvest Object Id 094d947a-a29d-42c5-b7b3-1ae523f132c7
Harvest Source Id 2b80d118-ab3a-48ba-bd93-996bbacefac2
Harvest Source Title DOI USGS DCAT-US
Metadata Type geospatial
Old Spatial 144.61800, -14.55769, -64.56526, 71.38706
Source Datajson Identifier True
Source Hash cf5e68fb77e9c21737ff49b3731eec533c32a9b828fff66c070c2da12129c6dd
Source Schema Version 1.1
Spatial {"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": 144.61800, -14.55769, 144.61800, 71.38706, -64.56526, 71.38706, -64.56526, -14.55769, 144.61800, -14.55769}

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