Nevada Natural Heritage Program
Department of Conservation and Natural Resources
901 South Stewart Street, Suite 5002 • Carson City, Nevada 89701-5245
tel: (775) 684-2900 • fax: (775) 684-2909

We welcome and solicit submissions of data for plant communities from knowledgeable individuals. Over the years, the contributions of numerous individuals and agencies have created a foundation of accurate and up-to-date information on Nevada's at-risk species, resulting in more appropriate conservation priorities, and more effective and timely conservation actions. We are now in the process of extending our database to include plant communities. All contributions of data for rare, at-risk, common, or even invasive plant communities are very welcome!

To facilitate completeness, consistency, and timely incorporation into our records, we encourage you to use our 2-page Nevada Plant Community Observation Report form for all plant community submissions (individual species observations use a different form). NOTICE: by submitting this form to our office, you agree to the terms of this web site's privacy policy. Please read this policy first if you have any concerns. You may obtain paper or electronic versions of the form in several different ways:

• Download the electronic form. With MS Internet Explorer 3.02+, NetScape Navigator 4.0+, and possibly other browsers, you may download and save a copy of the blank form and/or a completed example on your computer, in word-processing format, from the table below. You may then make additional copies, and use your word-processor to fill out and print or email the form as needed (see tips farther below). The form was created using MS Word 2000 for Windows, and is compatible with the final release of MS Word 97; an MS Word 95 version was also created. For best results, we recommend you download and use the MS Word 2000/97 version of the form, or if necessary try to convert either version from within your own favorite software. Other conversions generated from within MS Word 2000 lose some of their formatting, and conversions performed by other software may likewise alter the formatting. (See PDF or GIF versions farther below for examples of correctly formatted forms.) If you are able to create a fully functional version the form in a different word-processing format (see tips below first for more formatting information), we would like to add it to the table, along with due acknowledgement, so that others can use it. Contact the Web Page Coordinator for further information.

• View and print the PDF form. If your browser is configured to support the Adobe PDF file format (you may need to download the free Adobe® Acrobat® Reader plug-in first), you may view and print the following:
• Blank Form
• Example of a completed MS Word 2000/97 electronic form
• View and print images of the form. If none of the above options work, you may view and print the blank form as two .GIF images totaling 203kB, using your web browser (NOTE: printed quality on most laser printers is better than displayed quality). For it to print correctly, you should set your browser's page layout/setup to 8.5x11 inch paper with the 0.7-inch or smaller total margins (including printer's unprintable area and all header and footer information turned off. Then just print, specifying pages 1-2 to avoid possible extra pages. After trying it that way, you can adjust the margins to better center the form.

If you need further assistance obtaining electronic or printed versions of the form, you may contact us. If you have e-mail, we can send the electronic version of the form as a 51-105kB e-mail attachment, depending on the version. 

TIPS FOR FILLING OUT AND PRINTING THE ELECTRONIC FORM: Compatibility; Screen Appearance; Navigation and Data Entry; Customizing the Form and Other Efficiencies; Printing a Completed Form; and E-mailing Completed Electronic Forms.

1. Compatibility. Check the formatting of the form in your word processor against the PDF or GIF examples available above. The form has been tested only in MS Word 2000 and MS Word 97, on a HP LaserJet 8000 printer, and uses the Arial font. If you are not using these word processor versions, are using a different printer as your default (select the printer you will be using first), or do not have this font installed (unlikely, as it is standard), some of the formatting and spacing may be altered.
2. Screen Appearance. In MS Word 2000/97, the form is best viewed and edited using View, Page Layout, and then using View, Zoom to adjust the size and readability of the display. If the form appears to include strange-looking characters, you may need to Hide Non-printing Characters using the ¶ button on the toolbar. Turning Turning these characters back on is sometimes helpful in determining where you are within the document formatting. If [square brackets] appear around some fields, you may need to hide bookmarks using Tools, Options, View tab, Show bookmarks.
3. Navigation and Data Entry. To move downward through the fill-in fields, use the Tab key or the mouse. For some fields, if you are using MS Word 2000/97, advice will appear in the 'status bar' at the bottom of the screen. To move back upward, use Alt-Tab or the mouse. (The up and down arrows will also work in Word 2000.) This is different from the Nevada Native Species Survey Site Report form, in which use of the Tab or arrow keys may place the cursor in areas inappropriate for data entry. There is no set limit to the length of text you may enter into any field, however if you go beyond the underlined blank, you run the risk of altering the formatting for all subsequent parts of the form. For multi-line fields, when you reach the end of the first line, use the Tab key or the down arrow to move to the next line. The font style is fixed, so italics will not be available for use with scientific names. We recommend that you save your work frequently as you progress through the form.
4. Customizing the Form and Other Efficiencies. If you will be using the form frequently, you might wish to create your own working master copy of the form, filling in information that will usually not change (Reporter, Email, ft/m, etc.), then copy this working master for each form you actually fill out. Each time you fill out a new form, you may find it easiest to open a previously completed form with the most similar information, make the needed changes, then save it to a new, easy-to-remember file name. (For example, the second of several 2001 surveys for Cercocarpus dominated sites might be named CERCOC01.002).  We discourage making changes to the base form, however if you must re-arrange parts of the form, it may be unlocked with the password, "LetMeEdit".
5. Printing a Completed Form. The MS Word 2000 and 97 versions of the form have been printed successfully on an HP LaserJet 8000 N. Font sizes could vary slightly on other printers, possibly requiring some reformatting. Results may vary more widely with different word-processing software. Use the blank examples available on this page for comparison, and consult your software documentation as you attempt to match the format.
6. E-mailing Completed Electronic Forms. We welcome submissions of up to 10 completed electronic forms in any one day via email attachments, using any of the word-processing formats listed above. To submit more than this, please place them on a diskette and mail them to us, or give us a URL from which they can be downloaded over the Internet, or print and mail paper copies.

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