Ecological Inventory Manual
Authors: Noel Soucy, Benjamin Marckmann, Keith Slauson, Daniel Boiano, and Shayne Green
Produced by: LEGACY – The Landscape Connection, June 2001
This is a not-for-profit, non-published, uncopyrighted manual created and compiled for community use in the conservation of wildlands. This manual offers valuable ecological inventory techniques for community members who wish to understand and steward their homesteads for wildness.
Rare and Threatened Vegetation of the California North Coastal Basin
Author: Shayne Green
Produced by: Legacy-The Landscape Connection, 1999
The purpose of this document is to provide information that will help citizens and resource managers identify, protect and restore rare and threatened vegetation in the California North Coastal Basin. It addresses floristic diversity primarily at the series-level, but contains information that will be useful in both broader and finer-scale approaches to conservation. The primary project objectives are to:
- Identify series of the CNCB that are uncommon, rare and threatened on a statewide and/or global scale,
- Identify habitats and community types associated with high numbers of uncommon, rare, and threatened series within the region,
- Recommend strategies for identifying and protecting rare and threatened vegetation, and
- Present this information in a format that is useful to citizens, scientists, educators, and others interested in the rare and unique vegetation of the region.
Klamath/Central Pacific Coast Ecorecion Restoration Strategy: Vol. 1 – Description of the Ecoregion
Authors: Allen Cooperrider and Ron Garrett, September 30, 1998
This volume is the first of three volumes describing a strategy for restoring the function and health of the Klamath / Central Pacific Coast Ecoregion (Figure I-1), hereafter termed the “Klamath Ecoregion.” In this volume, we describe the ecoregion from an ecosystem perspective and summarize some of the human forces that have caused or are continuing to cause ecosystem degradation.
Ecological Assessment of Potential Wilderness Areas in the Klamath-Siskiyou Region of North Western California Appendix
Authors: Chris Trudel, Curtice Jacoby, Karin Riley-Thron, Per Tillisch
Produced by: LEGACY – The Landscape Connection, 2002
U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer and U.S. Representative Mike Thompson are considering forty-six potential wilderness areas (PWAs) in the Klamath-Siskiyou region of northwestern California for wilderness designation. The northern California portion of the Klamath-Siskiyou Ecoregion contains many unprotected roadless areas of varying sizes and ecological importance.
The California Wild Heritage Campaign (CWHC) is now proposing legislation to protect millions of acres of land that are mapped as PWAs across the state and in the northern California portion of the Klamath-Siskiyou ecoregion. However, the PWAs mapped by CWHC have no documented ecological attribute information from which to support their inclusion in the proposed wilderness legislation.
The purpose of this report is to document the individual contribution of the PWAs to a regional reserve design for the California portion of the Klamath-Siskiyou region. The information contained in this report documents the important ecological contribution the PWAs make to the regional reserve system of the Klamath~Siskiyou Ecoregion in northwestern California. The information will be used to assist the CWHC, conservation groups, and legislators in documenting the importance of PWAs in the Klamath-Siskiyou ecoregion and ensuring their inclusion in the proposed wilderness legislation.
Ecological Integrity Assessment of The North Coastal Basin
Authors: Keith Slauson, Danny Boianno, Shayne Green, and Noel Soucy
Produced by: LEGACY – The Landscape Connection, November 16, 1998
One of Legacy’s primary goals is to create a biodiversity conservation strategy for the California North Coastal Basin (NCB). This plan will highlight a network of areas within the region that stand out from the others due to their ecological function and conservation value. One step in the process of locating these areas is to understand the current level of ecological integrity within the major community types across the NCB.
Forsythe Wildlife Uplands Ecology
Author: Linda Gray
Produced by: LEGACY – The Landscape Connection, August 14, 2005
The primary purpose of this wildlife assessment is to demonstrate the value of the Forsythe Watershed as part of a potential wildlife linkage between Jackson Demonstration State Forest (JDSF) on the west side of Mendocino County and the Mendocino National Forest (MNF) on the east side.
LEGACY-The Landscape Connection Long Range Strategy: Creating a Biodiversity Conservation Network
Authors: Curtice Jacoby, Noel Soucy, Daniel Boiano, Steven Day, Shayne Green, KayDee Simon, Keith Slauson, and Chris Trudel
Produced by: LEGACY – The Landscape Connection, April 29, 1999
The long-term goal of LEGACY – The Landscape Connection is to implement a Biodiversity Conservation Plan (BCP) for the California North Coastal Basin. Based on scientific analysis and collective community input, we are currently delineating ecologically and culturally important areas in the California North Coastal Basin (CNCB). Upon completion of this mapping process, we will work collectively to develop watershed level biodiversity conservation plans that responds to the site-specific requirements of each community within the planning area and the CNCB as a whole. We promote social, cultural, and economic practices that maintain or restore the region’s ecological integrity.
The Bioreserve Strategy for Conserving Biodiversity
Authors: Allen Cooperrider, Stephen Day, and Curtice Jacoby, February 7, 1997
The bioreserve strategy is a promising but largely untested approach to conserving biodiversity. The strategy involves zoning regional landscapes into areas that range from total protection (minimal human activity) to areas of intensive human use. Zoning, in this context, does not necessarily refer to a formal regulatory designation, but rather to a societal agreement to limit certain human activities and uses on certain lands. This agreement may be expressed and played out in a variety of ways ranging from formal designation as reserves or parks to conservation easements or landowner agreements.
Conservation Value: Focal Species and Connectivity in California’s North Coast
Authors: Robert Brothers, Chris Trudel, and Curtice Jacoby
Produced by: LEGACY – The Landscape Connection, February 7, 1997
The Pacific Fisher, a rare small carnivore, was used as an indicator species for the mature forest habitat that once dominated this 5.5 million acre region. Six basic factors were used to assess the values of land for the conservation of biodiversity, and the largest concentrations of high value areas were used as “core areas” for the Fisher and other mature forest species. Connectivity between these areas was then assessed using road and habitat information. The result is a map of places that will be most important to protect if biodiversity in this region is to be maintained and restored.
Recommended Readings
- Aberly, Doug, ed. 1993. Boundaries of Home, Mapping for Local Empowerment. New Society Publishers, Gabriola Island BC.
- Allaby, M. 1994. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Ecology. Oxford University Press.
- Noss Reed F. 2000. The Redwood Forest, History, Ecology, and Conservation of the Coast Redwoods. Save-the-Redwoods League and Island Press, Covelo, Ca.
- Noss, Reed F. (Ed.) 1998. Redwood Ecology. Save-the-Redwoods-League. (In prep.)
- NOSS, REED F. AND ALLEN Y. COOPERRIDER. 1994. Saving Nature’s Legacy–Protecting and Restoring Biodiversity. Island Press, Covelo, CA., 417pp.
- Noss R.F., O’Connell M.A., Murphy D.D. 1997. The Science of Conservation Planning, Habitat Conservation under the Endangered Species Act. World Wildlife Fund. 121 pp.
- Pickett S., Ostfeld R., Shachak M., Likens G., eds. 1997. The Ecological Basis of Conservation, Heterogeneity, Ecosystems and Biodiversity. Chapman & Hall, New York. “Biological Corridors: Form, Function, Efficacy. Linear conservation areas may function as biological corridors but they may not mitigate against additional habitat loss.” Rosenburg D., Noon B., Meslow E.
- Sawyer, J.O. and T. Keeler-Wolf. 1995. A Manual of California Vegetation.
- California Native Plant Society, Sacramento.
- Stebbins, R.C. 1985. A field guide to western reptiles and amphibians.
- Houghton Mifflin Company, New York. 336 pp.