Historical Data and the CNDDB
As the CNDDB program celebrates its 40th birthday this month it seems appropriate to shift our gaze backward.
While the current version of our field survey form is a website, the earlier forms were actual sheets of paper completed in the field. We look upon these old forms with a certain reverence. Our world is in constant change and these documents allow us a glimpse into California’s past.
Here is a CNDDB field survey form from 1980 for Santa Cruz tarplant, Holocarpha macradenia. This population of plants was extirpated during development over the following few years. Only a few handwritten pages remain to show this species ever occurred at this site.
While our program receives a continuous supply of recent data, about a quarter of the sources we use were actually created prior to the establishment of CNDDB. Most older sources are either journal articles or specimen records.
CNDDB has always been a database about history. Each and every one of our records are from the past, whether for a rare species found last month or a century ago. In the last 40 years our tools have evolved, our staff has changed, and many of California’s habitats have been altered permanently. Now, as our program enters its fifth decade, we hope the CNDDB is more relevant than ever. Our data is all about the past. Our mission is all about the future.