This project will leverage and add to the vernal pool habitat mapping and assessment completed under USFWS cooperative agreement F22AC00949-00 by using that GIS map to design recovery species…

This project will leverage and add to the vernal pool habitat mapping and assessment completed under USFWS cooperative agreement F22AC00949-00 by using that GIS map to design recovery species surveys and guide targeted field work. We will compile existing occurrence data on three ESA species, vernal pool fairy shrimp (branchinecta lynchi, brly), cooks desert parsley (lomatium cookii, loco), and large-flowered woolly meadowfoam (limnanthes pumila SSP. Grandiflora, lipugr), and conduct new field surveys to strategically fill gaps in the data coverage. Resulting species location data will be integrated into the habitat map to inform USFWS decisions on new conservation areas and allow for future habitat suitability modeling. This work will build a knowledge foundation of species locations, status, and range, and the condition and suitability of remaining habitat as an essential baseline to guide species recovery plans and actions. A written report will document data compilation methods, sources, and results, new survey design, field effort, data summary relative to habitat variables, and accompanying maps. Spatial data will be provided as new GIS feature classes and as updates to the vernal pool habitat geodatabase from prior vernal pool habitat mapping.