CNDDB hits the "Big Four-Oh"
Our database was founded by The Nature Conservancy 40 years ago, in November of 1979. Two years later the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (then California Department of Fish and Game) took over the CNDDB. Our department has been continuously updating the database ever since.
The earliest work was done by hand on paper maps. Our processes have shifted year-by-year as new technology has been made available. Our methods have evolved, but throughout it all we have remained committed to our original mission of delivering information on imperiled species to scientists, decision makers, and the public.
If you could go back into the 1970’s for a moment, what would people say if you told them you could pull a phone from your pocket, use it to snap a photo of a flower, and also record your precise latitude and longitude at that same instant?
What will the next 40 years hold? Change, for sure. Expect new technology, increased human population, climate change, and…?
Unexpected things will happen!
Topographic map with hand-drawn CNDDB element occurrences from the middle 1980's.