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This is a Non-Federal dataset covered by different Terms of Use than Data.gov.

Vegetation - Chocolate Mountain Naval Areal Gunnery Range [ds3124]

Metadata Updated: July 24, 2025

With funding from the US Marine Corps, Jim Malusa and Andrew Sanders created a fine-scale vegetation map of the Chocolate Mountain Aerial Gunnery Range. Jim Malusa and Andrew Sanders conducted field surveys (transects\rapid assessments)for this project, accuracy assessments (AA) were performed by Joe Black from the National Park Service.The mapping study area, consists of approximately 458,000 acres, of Riverside and Imperial counties. Work was performed on the project between 2015 and 2021. The primary purpose of the project was to allow effective management of the vegetation communities on the CMAGR and provide a baseline for ecosystem management. The vegetation survey and flora are part the Integrated Natural Resources Management Plan (INRMP) prepared by MCAS Yuma under the Sikes Act Improvement Amendments of 1997.All mapped vegetation units (vegetation types) were named following the conventions of the National Vegetation Classification (NVC) and the Manual of California Vegetation (MCV). So far as possible, they are based on existing classifications created by the DRECP (Reyes et. al., 2020; Menke et al, 2013), the Vegetation Survey and Classification for the Northern and Eastern Colorado Desert Coordinated Management Plan (NECO) (Evens and Hartman, 2007), the Dos Palmas Conservation Area 2013 and 2018 Vegetation Map Report (Sweet et. al., 2019), the Mecca Hills and Orocopia Mountains Vegetation Map Report (Sweet et. al., 2015), and the Vegetation Association Descriptions for Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Death Valley National Park, Mojave National Preserve, and Castle Mountains National Monument (Evens et. al., 2020).The vegetation map was digitized by Jim Malusa using 2015 color imagery produced for the Marine Corp by Valley Air as the base with Google earth imagery to assist with visual analysis. Map polygons are assessed for Vegetation Type, Percent Cover, Exotics, Development Disturbance, and other attributes. The minimum mapping unit (MMU) is 2.5 acres. Because watercourses are important avenues of animal movements, the watercourse MMU was reduced to 0.1 hectare (0.25 acres).Field reconnaissance and accuracy assessment enhanced map quality. There was a total of 34 mapping classes. The overall Fuzzy Accuracy Assessment rating for the final vegetation map,at the Alliance and Group levels, is 79.5 percent. 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/3100_3199/ds3124.zip

Access & Use Information

Public: This dataset is intended for public access and use. Non-Federal: This dataset is covered by different Terms of Use than Data.gov. License: See this page for license information.

Downloads & Resources

Dates

Metadata Created Date July 23, 2025
Metadata Updated Date July 24, 2025

Metadata Source

Harvested from State of California

Additional Metadata

Resource Type Dataset
Metadata Created Date July 23, 2025
Metadata Updated Date July 24, 2025
Publisher California Department of Fish and Wildlife
Maintainer
Identifier 835ed702-872b-4aad-90ad-5371171d1ca3
Data First Published 2024-06-12T19:57:44.000Z
Data Last Modified 2024-06-14T21:51:32.450Z
Category Natural Resources
Public Access Level public
Metadata Context https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.jsonld
Schema Version https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
Catalog Describedby https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.json
Datagov Dedupe Retained 20250724164837
Harvest Object Id 56957520-8581-4fb9-bc1d-fb93c66bffeb
Harvest Source Id 3ba8a0c1-5dc2-4897-940f-81922d3cf8bc
Harvest Source Title State of California
License http://www.opendefinition.org/licenses/cc-by
Source Datajson Identifier True
Source Hash 6bc06ca8a1a8635f88a5abff91d1b097b6199e299b1cacd9fd041046c87dda90
Source Schema Version 1.1

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