The Minnesota Conservation Explorer allows users to submit a proposed project and request an automated assessment of potential impacts to Minnesota’s rare features. This review informs project proposers of any potential impacts to rare features. It includes actions to follow state law, recommended measures to avoid or minimize disturbance to ecologically significant areas or state-listed species, and, if needed, additional steps needed to complete the review. Incorporating these recommendations into project plans is an important step in reducing impacts to Minnesota's rare natural features.
A Natural Heritage Review is required as part of Minnesota’s environmental review process. In addition, a Natural Heritage Review is strongly encouraged for all projects as due diligence for following state law and considering impacts to Minnesota’s Natural Heritage. The Natural Heritage Review letter is not a project approval letter.
It is strongly recommended that Natural Heritage Reviews be conducted early in the project planning process. For environmental review purposes, the results of a Natural Heritage Review are only valid for one year. If project construction has not occurred within one year of the review, a subsequent review should be done within one year of project initiation.
Users must register and log in to request a Natural Heritage Review. If you would like to register for this service, please create a new account.
Fee Schedule
Please see the fee schedule for this service.
Instructions
If you are a registered user, please log in and then click on the Explore Tab. You will need to provide an area of interest (by drawing on map, uploading shapefile, or selecting a shape from the existing layers) before you can request a Natural Heritage Review. If the automated review results in no comments or standard comments, you will receive the results of the review in approximately 5 minutes. If the review cannot be automated, your project will be placed in the queue for further review. The turnaround time will depend on the number of reviews in the queue.
The Help Tab provides instructions for navigating the tool.
If unable to submit a Natural Heritage Review request via MCE, contact Jim Drake at James.F.Drake@state.mn.us.
Federal Review
To ensure compliance with federal law, conduct a federal regulatory review using the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's (USFWS) online Information for Planning and Consultation (IPaC) tool.