Vegetation - State Vehicle Recreation Areas - 2020 [ds3194]

The California Department of Parks and Recreation contracted Geographical Information Center (GIC) to conduct vegetation sampling across multiple California State Vehicle Recreation Areas (SVRA). The purpose of this map is to characterize the vegetation in various SVRAs, which includes Alameda Tesla, Carnegie, Clay Pit, Heber Dunes, Hollister Hills, Hungry Valley, Oceano Dunes, Ocotillo Wells and Prairie City. The development of this vegetation map was prompted by the passage of Senate Bill 249, in which California Department of Parks and Recreation’s Off-Highway Motor Vehicle Recreation Division (OHMVRD) was charged with meeting new legislative mandates to ensure resources compliance within all SVRAs. These mandates require (among other things) that OHMVRD compile an inventory of native plant communities within each SVRA [PRC 5090.35 (c)(1)]. To meet this requirement, OHMVRD has consulted the California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Vegetation Classification and Mapping Program (VegCAMP) to source finescale vegetation maps that cover the SVRA footprint, or, if not available, used the VegCAMP methods to develop new finescale vegetation maps.

This finescale vegetation map and associated data is intended to provide an inventory of native plant communities, inform the park’s natural resource management planning including the Wildlife Habitat Protection Plan (WHPP), and establish a baseline for measuring future vegetation change.