Vegetation classification at Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Mojave National Preserve, Castle Mountains National Monument, and Death Valley National Park: Final report (Revised with Cost Estimate)

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Vegetation inventory and mapping is a process to document the composition, distribution and abundance of vegetation types across the landscape. The National Park Service’s (NPS) Inventory and Monitoring (I&M) program has determined vegetation inventory and mapping to be an important resource for parks; it is one of 12 baseline inventories of natural resources to be completed for all 270 national parks within the NPS I&M program. The Mojave Desert Network Inventory & Monitoring (MOJN I&M) began its process of vegetation inventory in 2009 for four park units as follows: Lake Mead National Recreation Area (LAKE), Mojave National Preserve (MOJA), Castle Mountains National Monument (CAMO), and Death Valley National Park (DEVA). Mapping is a multi-step and multi-year process involving skills and interactions of several parties, including NPS, with a field ecology team, a classification team, and a mapping team. This process allows for compiling existing vegetation data, collecting new data to fill in gaps, and analyzing the data to develop a classification that then informs the mapping. The final products of this process include a vegetation classification, ecological descriptions and field keys of the vegetation types, and geospatial vegetation maps based on the classification. In this report, we present the narrative and results of the sampling and classification effort. In three other associated reports (Evens et al. 2020a, 2020b, 2020c) are the ecological descriptions and field keys. The resulting products of the vegetation mapping efforts are, or will be, presented in separate reports: mapping at LAKE was completed in 2016, mapping at MOJA and CAMO will be completed in 2020, and mapping at DEVA will occur in 2021. The California Native Plant Society (CNPS) and NatureServe, the classification team, have completed the vegetation classification for these four park units, with field keys and descriptions of the vegetation types developed at the alliance level per the U.S. National Vegetation Classification (USNVC). We have compiled approximately 9,000 existing and new vegetation data records into digital databases in Microsoft Access. The resulting classification and descriptions include approximately 105 alliances and landform types, and over 240 associations. CNPS also has assisted the mapping teams during map reconnaissance visits, follow-up on interpreting vegetation patterns, and general support for the geospatial vegetation maps being produced. A variety of alliances and associations occur in the four park units. Per park, the classification represents approximately 50 alliances at LAKE, 65 at MOJA and CAMO, and 85 at DEVA. Several riparian alliances or associations that are somewhat rare (ranked globally as G3) include shrublands of Pluchea sericea, meadow associations with Distichlis spicata and Juncus cooperi, and woodland associations of Salix laevigata and Prosopis pubescens along playas, streams, and springs. Other rare to somewhat rare types (G2 to G3) include shrubland stands with Eriogonum heermannii, Buddleja utahensis, Mortonia utahensis, and Salvia funerea on rocky calcareous slopes that occur sporadically in LAKE to MOJA and DEVA. Types that are globally rare (G1) include the associations of Swallenia alexandrae on sand dunes and Hecastocleis shockleyi on rocky calcareous slopes in DEVA. Two USNVC vegetation groups hold the highest number of alliances: 1) Warm Semi-Desert Shrub & Herb Dry Wash & Colluvial Slope Group (G541) has nine alliances, and 2) Mojave Mid-Elevation Mixed Desert Scrub Group (G296) has thirteen alliances. These two groups contribute significantly to the diversity of vegetation along alluvial washes and mid-elevation transition zones.