The Florida Natural Areas Inventory (FNAI) is administered by the Institute of Science and Public Affairs at Florida State University. We are dedicated to gathering, interpreting, and disseminating information critical to the conservation of Florida's biological diversity. FNAI was founded in 1981 as a member of The Nature Conservancy's international network of natural heritage programs, now coordinated by NatureServe. Funding is provided through contracts and grants, which currently include work for the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, and other state and federal agencies.
FNAI staff continually build and maintain a comprehensive database of the biological resources of Florida, which now includes more than 32,000 element occurrences of rare plants, rare animals, and high-quality natural communities. These occurrences are maintained in a GIS (Geographic Information Systems) database for mapping and analysis.
FNAI also serves as the primary source for information on Florida's conservation lands. The FNAI database includes GIS boundaries and statistics for more than 2,000 federal, state, local, and private managed areas. The database also includes information on Florida Forever environmental land acquisition projects.
FNAI staff have expertise in a range of fields, including botany, zoology, ecology, land management, environmental planning, GIS, and database management.