The fees described below apply to all users, unless superseded by a specific agreement negotiated between the user and the Nevada Natural Heritage Program. Most standard requests are processed within 1-2 weeks.

If no information or species-location records are found to answer your request, there is NO CHARGE. Information found is charged at the rates below, or a minimum processing fee of $10.00, whichever is greater, and is subject to our data limitations and restrictions. Species-location records are typically supplied as hard-copy or as ArcView® GIS shape files. Records formatted for hard-copy can also be supplied as an electronic ASCII text file. An invoice is sent along with each data response and becomes past due 30 days hence; no requests will be processed for users with past due accounts. Prepayment may be required for very large requests or users with a history of late payments.

Standard fees: the following frequently requested services are charged standard rates to simplify record-keeping and reduce overall costs. These include all related staff time, photocopies, and other expenses.

• Standard search of a small area or species producing 40 or fewer summary species-location records (non-GIS format only), $50.00. Add $0.50 for each additional record over 40. Areas searched include buffer zones. (Get details and examples on-line or by contacting us.)
• Database subscription, typically supplied as GIS files containing complete species-location records for all or part of the state (get details and examples on-line or by contacting us):
• first calendar year, 100% of the unit fee (see below) for complete species-location records.
• subsequent consecutive calendar years, each update, 40% of the unit fee for complete species-location records, based on the number of records found each time. To qualify for the 40% rate, at least one update must be requested in each consecutive calendar year following the first year, each update must be for the same portion of the state covered in the first year, and updates must be requested at least 6 months apart (no early requests). Otherwise, the first-year rate will apply.

• Species-location record charges are based on depth and complexity. Unless requested otherwise, we search surrounding buffer zones in order to detect additional species that might occur in your area. Charges per record:
• Complete or customized records (any format including all GIS records) are charged the following cumulative sliding rates (get details and examples on-line or by contacting us):

• Summary of location and status (non-GIS format only), $0.50 per record.
• Staff time, per hour (for field work, add standard state travel rates), $25.00.
• Photocopies, per page, $0.10. For 20 or fewer pages, with no other applicable fees, NO CHARGE.
• Other materials and supplies, AT COST.

In addition, the program supplies several publications and standard computer-generated lists and summaries, many of which are freely available on-line (http://heritage.nv.gov/). Inquire for further details. There is also no charge for reasonable phone inquiries about the biology or status of particular species or areas when they do not require database access.

Explanation of fees: Most of those who use our services request information on locations of at-risk plant and animal species in a specific area of interest. Our costs include assembling, maintaining, updating, and quality-controlling the databases used to answer each request, as well as preparing each response. As of July 2003, our database contained information on 6,976 locations of at-risk and watch-list species statewide. These records were gathered, processed, analyzed, entered, updated, maintained, and quality-checked over a period of 17+ years, since 6 January 1986. Assuming that about half of this time was spent performing other office duties, the data were assembled at an approximate cost of 32.5 person-years. Based on our employees' average 2000 salary and benefits of approximately $25 per hour, the replacement cost of the Nevada Natural Heritage Program database and files is approximately $1,700,000, or $244 per location record. These conservative amounts do not include equipment, materials, office space, utilities, support services, and other overhead costs. They also do not include the costs to the numerous other agencies, institutions, companies, and individuals who gathered and published, or otherwise supplied to us, many of the primary data on which our records are based.

A number of additional factors, such as the number of users who will request a particular data record, the period of time that record has been available for request, or how the numbers used above for estimating costs will change in the future, cannot accurately be estimated. We therefore charge conservatively with the goals of covering a portion of our costs over the life of the Program, while maintaining a relatively predictable, affordable, and uniform fee schedule for our users. The current rates have not changed since July 2003, when we raised our standard flat fee from $40 to $50, and otherwise not since November 2000. We do reserve the right, however, to change our fees without notice to reflect significant changes in our expenses. Without the generous past and ongoing financial support of many of the same agencies, institutions, companies, and individuals mentioned above, and of the citizens of Nevada, the current low fees would not be possible.

Data vs. data services: There is a widespread misconception that Natural Heritage Programs support themselves by selling the data of others. It is true that we could not provide the quantity and quality of services we do without generous contributions of species occurrence data from numerous individuals and organizations, and we strive to express our gratitude for those contributions at every opportunity. We do not sell those data, however, and we do not come close to supporting ourselves with the fees we do charge (our fee revenues vary between about  2 and 8 percent of our annual budget). We do make species occurrence records available to end-users, charging nominal fees only for the data services required to supply those records in a consistent, unified, and quality-controlled form. Most of the data we provide can also be obtained individually from published works, museums and herbaria, and various other freely available sources in the public domain, or from the numerous other agencies, institutions, companies, and individuals from whom they originated. A relatively small portion of the data were developed in-house, mainly through publicly- or privately-funded field surveys, and even then we charge only for our services in making those data available. The added value for which we charge includes: compiling source data from numerous scattered sources; analyzing and interpreting the spatial location and precision, reliability, age, and taxonomic accuracy of those data; entering those data into a common data structure used by Heritage Programs nationwide; populating data fields that reflect our additional analyses and interpretations; quality-controlling the resulting occurrence records to the highest standards of NatureServe and the network of Natural Heritage Programs; updating those records as newer information becomes available; making the data records available in standard formats; acquiring, maintaining, and updating voluminous background information on the species we track and exchanging such data regularly with other states; and maintaining and updating the software and hardware necessary to provide our services in an efficient manner.

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