Channel Islands National Park Vegetation Mapping Inventory Products

Valerius, Tracy; National Park Service Inventory & Monitoring Division

Channel Islands National Park (CHIS) vegetation mapping inventory (VMI) project began in 2012 with the aim to map all vegetation communities and associations across five islands. The project was to be completed using a combination of contractors and federal staff for each phase of the project. Several aspects of the project were to be completed by National Park Service (NPS) staff in conjunction with California Native Plant Society. As of the date of this memo, due to the amount of time elapsed from project completion and report finalization, in addition to staff changes, data products for this project were not officially finalized and formally delivered to the VMI program. The VMI program has guidance on standards for required deliverables, and due to the uncertainty of the CHIS vegetation mapping products, the collection of narrowed down data products did not match those standards. In 2024, the NPS Inventory Program did a comprehensive review of the currently available information and draft reports. In summary, due to the uncertainty of quality and completeness and potential for proprietary data or Personally Identifiable Information (PII), the CHIS vegetation mapping data products do not meet the standards issued by VMI program and thus will not be published or made available directly to the public. All available files have been shared with CHIS park staff and any requests for available information can be made through the park by submitting a National Park Service Research and Collecting Permit application via the Research Permit and Reporting System (RPRS).