History of the NCBP
The North Carolina Biodiversity Project traces its origins to the 1990’s, when Harry LeGrand and Tom Howard developed a Butterflies of North Carolina database, compiling all known records for butterflies in the state. Building on NC county distribution maps begun by Paul Opler and Jeff Nekola, LeGrand began compiling new records based on Natural Heritage Program surveys as well as information collected by the Carolinaleps Listserve, a group that had formed a year or two earlier, where observers in North and South Carolina exchanged their observations via e-mail messages. Around 1994, Howard created an internet website, hosted by NC State Parks, which provided online access to the butterfly data, as well as PDF versions that could be downloaded from the site.
A few years after the Butterfly website began, LeGrand decided that up-to-date information on birds in the state was needed. Though there were several statewide books published on the distribution of birds in North Carolina, the last book on this subject was published in 1980, and the Carolinabirds Listserve that had existed for a number of years prior to the website provided only a limited distribution of new information. Again, Howard provided a website framework, with LeGrand compiling the information. Although similar in format to the Butterfly website, the primary focus for the Birds of North Carolina site was on distribution and abundance of birds within each of the three major physiographic provinces: Mountains, Piedmont, and Coastal Plain.
State Parks also hosts the Dragonflies and Damselflies (i.e., Odonates) of North Carolina website, which was created by LeGrand and Howard around 2010. Unlike with the other two (i.e. butterflies and birds) websites, most of the original data for the site came from the specimen records of the late Duncan Cuyler, who began his surveys of the state’s fauna back in the 1940s. As there is no state listserve for Odonate reporting, Howard set up a data input function whereby observers can enter their own records and photos.
A similar website for Mammals of North Carolina was started by LeGrand and Howard around 2012, and also hosted by State Parks. As with the Odonate website, observers can upload records, though it is preferred that only new county records be submitted, as the purpose of the site is not to accumulate all of the known records for species, but to better delineate the geographic range of a species in the state.
In 2014, Steve Hall, Bo Sullivan, Parker Backstrom, and Merrill Lynch began working with Howard to develop a Moths of North Carolina website. As in the previous websites, the intention was to cover each species that has been recorded in the state, providing the same sort of information on Distribution, Frequency, Habitat Associations, Life Histories, and Conservation Status. However, in the case of moths, close to 3,000 species have been listed as occurring in North Carolina, compared to just the few hundreds of species of Butterflies, Birds, Odonates, and Mammals.
All of the websites that had been created as of 2015 were developed informally, based on the cooperative working relationship initiated between LeGrand and Howard and subsequently followed as the additional authors joined in. By 2015, however, there were enough authors assembled to make a group approach more reasonable, and the North Carolina Biodiversity Project was created to represent the interests of the authors, none of whom are employed by State Parks and many not employees of the state at all. Following several foundational meetings, a set of Articles of Association were prepared and ratified by this group (see below). That was followed by discussion between the NCBP and the Division of Parks and Recreation, resulting in the signing of an MOA describing the collaboration between the two in creating and managing the websites (see MOA between NCBP and DPR under About the NCBP). Both of these steps, along with the formation of another partnership with the Southern Conservation Partners, sets out the pattern of relationships we wish to follow, with each group recognized as a separate, independent entities, but working cooperatively towards a common set of goals – recognition of the importance of maintaining the viability of the natural world, building an interest and appreciation in our native species and ecosystems, and raising public awareness of the need to increase our conservation efforts.