(Link to Metadata) This dataset is the result of an effort to map biological "hotspots" in Vermont based on the "element occurrences" in the Nongame and Natural Heritage Program database. The NNHP database, compiled and maintained by the VT Department of Fish and Wildlife, records over 4000 locations of rare, threatened, and endangered plants, animals, and exemplary natural communities throughout the state. 2332 of the highest quality and rarest of these point locations were mapped, and polygons were drawn economically around concentrations of mapped points. An attempt was made to include point locations characteristic of a given landscape or region (an escarpment and talus slopes, for example, or a region of hills and rich fens) within individual polygons. 544 of the 2332 occurrences were not included within drawn polygons-- these more dispersed occurrences are candidates for finer-scaled conservation measures.