Biologists’ Mapping of Wilderness Unveils Wide Diversity of Vegetation

Biologists have always known that the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area is home to plants such as live oaks and black walnuts, Pacific rush and giant coreopsis.

But only now are they learning about the mountains’ unusual combination of plants and how their diverse topography includes scores of micro-ecosystems of plant communities.

As the National Park Service puts the final touches on the first-ever vegetation map of the geographically diverse landscape straddling the Ventura and Los Angeles county line, information is being gleaned about the landscape and how to protect it.

"It surprised everyone involved in the project, including the people at the state, of how diverse it was in terms of plant communities," said John Tiszler, a plant ecologist with the park who has helped in the more than seven-year process to create the map.

Similar maps are being drawn up across the country. While parks might know generally what is inside the borders, they don’t have the detail these maps provide, Tiszler said.

The Park Service started creating the maps after a prescribed burn in 2000 got out of control in Los Alamos, N.M., burning more than 48,000 acres. The Park Service wanted a better understanding of what parks hold before it sets controlled burns that could destroy valuable resources, Tiszler said.

The map doesn’t seek to identify every plant in an area, but instead defines the different smaller ecosystems by what plants are the most dominant in that particular area. Discovering a specific region is dominated by, say, foothill needlegrass, biologists can then figure out what other species are likely in the area. Some areas might be more prone to having endangered species, while others could have a rare mix of plants.

The Santa Monica Mountains have lots of these smaller ecosystems, in part because of the varied topography, Tiszler said. In a short distance, the land goes from scrubland to steep cliffs to grassland. In each of those different landscapes, the vegetation changes dramatically and quickly, a relatively unusual characteristic.

Making the map was a long, laborious process.

A contractor flew over the park, taking photos of every inch of the landscape. Biologists then had the task of developing the classifications that each group of plants would fall under. Once that was complete, the classifications were applied to the aerial maps. The final product took about 4,000 field visits to complete. The map is being analyzed.

Tiszler said people are already starting to take notice.

The Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area is a much different national park than most, made up of a patchwork of agencies and home to thousands of people. The park faces the constant pressure of development from the different stakeholders.

Lorraine Rubin, who works in the Ventura County Planning Division, said the map is a critical tool in figuring out what needs to be protected when considering development.

"We think of it as being extremely valuable," she said. "It is by far the most fine-scale map we have."

The final map is expected to be completed next year and will be available online.

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