Western Foundation of Vertebrate Zoology contracted Stillwater Sciences in 2018 to create a fine-scale vegetation map of portions of the Santa Clara River. The mapping study area, consists of approximately 16,370 acres of Ventura County. Work was performed on the project during the summer and fall of 2018. The projects main goal was to address the need for detailed up-to-date vegetation information in support of identifying and modeling habitat for southwestern willow flycatcher, yellow-billed cuckoo, and least Bell's vireo. Funding for the project was provided by an Endangered Species Act Section 6 grant from the United States Fish and Wildlife Service to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. This project builds off a prior mapping project that was conducted by Stillwater Sciences and URS, which was funded by the California State Coastal Conservancy and the Santa Clara River Trustee Council, in 2007. Species composition data collected in the field was compiled and reviewed in the office to assign the appropriate MCV alliance to each sampled location. In cases where the species present were best described by an MCV association (a sub-category of the broader MCV alliance), one was assigned. For field sampled locations with unique species composition not currently represented by an existing MCV alliance or association, a provisional alliance or association was created. In addition, some areas were classified into broader land cover types (e.g., agriculture, developed, riverwash). The vegetation map was produced applying digital aerial imagery (natural color, 2-foot resolution) from the National Agricultural Imagery Program (NAIP) (USDA-FSA 2016) flown in May, June, and July 2016. The minimum mapping unit (MMU) is 0.5 acres for most types and 0.1 for more unusual types that were discernable from areal photography and/or documented in the field. Once the map was made photointerpretation of the NAIP imagery took place in order to identify vegetation types. Field mapping took place after to refine the vegetation type definitions, CNPS vegetation reconnaissance field forms were used in the field. There was a total of 91 mapping classes. There was no accuracy assessment was done for this project. More information can be found in the project report, which is bundled with the vegetation map published for BIOs here: https://filelib.wildlife.ca.gov/Public/BDB/GIS/BIOS/Public_Datasets/2900_2999/ds2961.zip
