Vegetation - State Vehicle Recreation Areas - 2020 [ds3194]

About this dataset

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, Claypit, 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. About the individual SVRAs: Alameda Tesla: The finescale vegetation map for the Alameda Tesla area was created in 2021-2022 using CDFW's VegCAMP standard methods. At the time of surveying, this parcel was part of Carnegie SVRA and was sampled and analyzed together with that project, as part of informing the Carnegie SVRA Wildlife Habitat Protection Plan. However, after the legal separation of these two units in 2021, the mapping projects have also been separated. Carnegie : The finescale vegetation map for Carnegie SVRA was created in 2021-2022 for the park's Wildlife Habitat Protection Plan, using CDFW's VegCAMP standard methods. Field surveys were conducted in 2021. This mapping effort was part of a larger project within the Off Highway Motor Vehicle Division of State Parks to create updated vegetation maps and an inventory of native plant communities for each SVRA. When the project began in 2021, Carnegie SVRA and the adjacent Alameda-Tesla area were sampled and analyzed together. However, because of the legal the separation of these two units in 2021, the mapping projects were separated Clay Pit: Clay Pit SVRA is a small, 220-acre park in unincorporated Butte County, three miles southwest of Oroville. It consists of a narrow terrace surrounding a large bowl-shaped depression that was excavated for clay substrate to use in the construction of the Oroville Dam. It was a popular unofficial off-highway vehicle (OHV) riding area, and became an SVRA in 1981. The entire park is designated as open riding, except for an exclusion zone where a drainage canal flows through the park and into the Feather River oxbow. The park frequently floods from rainfall in wet months, and dries out in the summer. Because of the clay substrate, the shallow depressions formed from OHV use create vernal pools in the spring, providing habitat for native vernal pool plant species and branchiopod species. However, due to the history of disturbance and lack of original topography, many species at the park are ruderal non-natives. Heber Dunes: Heber Dunes SVRA is a small, 364-acre park in unincorporated Imperial County, seven miles northeast of Calexico, and is surrounded by agricultural fields, irrigation canals, and an undeveloped parcel owned by California Department of Transportation (CalTrans). It consists of open sand dunes, planted athel tamarisk ( Tamarix aphylla ) trees, and native and exotic desert scrub vegetation. The entire park is designated as open riding for off-highway vehicles. Hollister Hills: Hollister Hills SVR