We welcome and solicit submissions of sighting and survey data for at-risk and watch-list plants and animals 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 gratefully acknowledge all contributions of data, past and future.

To ensure maximum value of your data, we encourage you to use our Nevada Native Species Site Survey Report form for all submissions for individual species (plant community observations us 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.

The form is on one page, and is relatively self-explanatory. Two pages of supplemental instructions have also been developed to clarify certain areas of the form, and we encourage first-time users to read these instructions before using the form. Further instructions and tips for for filling out the form electronically are found at the bottom of this page.

Now also available with the main survey form is our supplemental (or stand-alone), general-purpose, Site Biological Inventory form. This handy form can be used to generate species lists, community rélevés, photography or collection notes, etc., for one or up to ten related sites.

You may obtain paper or electronic versions of the forms in the following ways:

• Download the electronic forms. With MS Internet Explorer 3.02+, NetScape Navigator 4.0+, and possibly other browsers, you may download and save a copy of the form 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 tables in MS Word XP/97, then converted to additional formats. For best results, we recommend you download the MS Word XP version of the form, then either edit with MS Word version 97 or later, or convert it from within your own favorite word-processing software. Conversions to other word processing formats from within MS Word XP/97 usually lose some of their formatting. (See PDF versions farther below for examples of correctly formatted forms.) If your word-processing software cannot read and convert MS Word XP/97 or later, then you may need to download one of the other available formats. If you are able to create a more exact copy of the MS Word XP/97 downloadable version 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 Webmaster for further information.

To download in this format…	First RIGHT-CLICK on the appropriate link…	Then…
MS Word XP / 97 (original)	site survey report | inventory p.1 | inventory p.2	Choose "save link as…", "save target as…", or equivalent, and choose a place on your computer to save the file. If your browser does not provide this equivalent, see other options below.
MS Word 6.x / 95 (converted from Word XP / 97)	site survey report | inventory p.1 | inventory p.2
Adobe PDF (converted from Word XP / 97)	supplemental instructions for site survey report data standards for mapping rare species site survey report | inventory p.1 | inventory p.2 completed sample of site survey report

• View and print PDF forms. 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, using the auto-rotate and center pages option when available, and without shrinking or expanding to fit:
  • Blank Form
  • Data Standards for Mapping Rare Species
  • Supplemental Instructions
  • Example of a completed MS Word XP/97 electronic form
  • Site Biological Inventory page 1
  • Site Biological Inventory page 2

If you need further assistance obtaining electronic or printed versions of the form, please contact us. If you have e-mail, we can send the electronic version of the form as a 20-40kB e-mail attachment, depending on the version. 

TIPS FOR FILLING OUT AND PRINTING THE ELECTRONIC FORM: Compatibility; Screen Appearance; Navigation and Data Entry; Text Boxes and Fitting the Form on One Page; 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 examples available above. (Don't worry that the downloaded form does not extend to the bottom of the page - space has been left for the various text boxes to expand downward as needed.) The form has been tested only in MS Word XP/97 for Windows on HP LaserJet printers, and uses the Times New Roman and Arial fonts. 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 these fonts installed (unlikely, as they are very standard), some of the formatting and spacing may be altered. In particular, check 1) the box at upper left (it and other boxes may have been divided into 3 rows which need to be merged back into one cell); 2) the vertical justification of text and blanks in table cells (it may all have been changed to top-justified, which is only correct for the text boxes [see farther below]; all other text and blanks should be bottom-justified); and 3) the caption text of blanks and text boxes (variations in font sizes may cause text to not fit and display completely; see under Printing the Completed Form below for resizing table cells).
2. Screen Appearance. In MS Word XP/97, the form is best viewed and edited using View, Print Layout or 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 (Reveal Codes or equivalent in WordPerfect). Turning these characters back on is sometimes helpful in determining where you are within the document formatting. It may also be helpful to select Table, Show Gridlines to better see the table cells you are working with. Select Table, Hide Gridlines to turn them off again.
3. Navigation and Data Entry. When entering information, avoid using the arrow keys or Tab key to navigate between blanks. Instead, use your mouse to place the typing cursor in each blank, clicking somewhere in the right-hand half of each blank. This will best ensure that you begin typing in the proper place in both centered and left-justified blanks, and do not accidentally type in hidden table cells used for formatting purposes. If an entire blank becomes highlighted after you click in it, simply press the left-arrow key once to establish the correct starting position. Feel free to add italics to the pre-set font for the text of scientific names, etc., as appropriate. We recommend that you save your work frequently as you progress through the form.
4. Text Boxes and Fitting the Form on One Page. Most blanks on the form occur as table cells of fixed height and width, limiting the amount of data which can be displayed in them. For all blanks on the form, more data can be squeezed in by typing a little text first, then highlighting all of that text and selecting a smaller font size, then continuing to type (be sure not to highlight the caption text). In addition, certain blanks called text boxes will expand downward to accommodate any amount of text you type. These are the Location Description, Interactions, Habitat Description, Current Site Use, Comments On Quality, Should/Could This Site Be Protected, Other Comments, and Other Knowledgeable People blanks. These text boxes are table cells with a set minimum height, but no maximum height. If your typing fills a text box all the way to the bottom, the printed form will be more readable if you press Enter (or Return) to place an extra carriage return (paragraph mark, line, etc.) at the end of the text, forcing a blank line at the bottom of the text box. If the finished form extends onto more than one page, though, you may need to remove some or all of these extra lines, and/or reduce the font size of the text in some or all text boxes, to fit the printed form on a single page. If the finished form does not fill the page, you can add more carriage return(s) to text box(es) to fill the page and create a better appearance.
5. 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, Phone, Address, 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 1992 surveys for Arabis rigidissima var. demota might be named ARRIDE92.002).
6. Printing a Completed Form. The original MS Word XP/97 version of the form has been printed successfully on an HP LaserJet 8000N, and should print successfully on most other Windows printers. Font sizes could vary slightly on other printers, possibly requiring some text and/or table cells to be re-sized before all text will display. Do not attempt to resize cells using the edges at the left or right margins of the page; each table row must be the same overall width, and this will alter the width of the row. To resize table cells in MS Word XP/97 using internal edges only, highlight the complete cells on both sides of the cell edge(s) you want to move by dragging the mouse cursor over them, then place the mouse cursor on the internal edge(s) so that the resizing cursor appears, and drag the edge one increment at a time in the desired direction until all text fits properly. Alternately, you may highlight all data in a cell and select a smaller font size until all the data display. Results may vary more widely with different word-processing software, depending on how tables, printers, and fonts are managed. Use the blank examples available on this page for comparison, and consult your software documentation as you attempt to match the format.
7. 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 CD or other media 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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