Natural Resource Condition Assessment, Santa Monica
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National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior Natural Resource Stewardship and Science Natural Resource Condition Assessment Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area Natural Resource Report NPS/SAMO/NRR—2013/715 ON THE COVER Clockwise from top left: Carlisle Canyon, photograph by Mike Malone; arboreal salamander (Aneides lugubris), photograph by NPS; Dudleya cymosa ssp. cymosa at Carlisle Canyon, photograph by Tarja Sagar; and post-fire regrowth, photograph by Tony Valois. Photographs courtesy of Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. Natural Resource Condition Assessment Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area Natural Resource Report NPS/SAMO/NRR—2013/715 David M. Stoms Patrick A. Jantz Frank W. Davis Donald Bren School of Environmental Science & Management University of California Santa Barbara Santa Barbara, CA 93106-5131 This report was prepared under Task Agreement J8C07080005 of the Californian Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (Cooperative and Joint Venture Agreement between the National Park Service and University of California Santa Barbara H8C07080001). September 2013 U.S. Department of the Interior National Park Service Natural Resource Stewardship and Science Fort Collins, Colorado The National Park Service, Natural Resource Stewardship and Science office in Fort Collins, Colorado, publishes a range of reports that address natural resource topics These reports are of interest and applicability to a broad audience in the National Park Service and others in natural resource management, including scientists, conservation and environmental constituencies, and the public. The Natural Resource Report Series is used to disseminate high-priority, current natural resource management information with managerial application. The series targets a general, diverse audience, and may contain NPS policy considerations or address sensitive issues of management applicability. All manuscripts in the series receive the appropriate level of peer review to ensure that the information is scientifically credible, technically accurate, appropriately written for the intended audience, and designed and published in a professional manner. This report received formal peer review by subject-matter experts who were not directly involved in the collection, analysis, or reporting of the data, and whose background and expertise put them on par technically and scientifically with the authors of the information. Views, statements, findings, conclusions, recommendations, and data in this report do not necessarily reflect views and policies of the National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior. Mention of trade names or commercial products does not constitute endorsement or recommendation for use by the U.S. Government. This report is available from the Mediterranean Coast Network Inventory and Monitoring Program (http://science.nature.nps.gov/im/units/medn/) and the Natural Resource Publications Management website (http://www.nature.nps.gov/publications/nrpm/). The GIS data layers produced for the report are available from the Mediterranean Coast Network Research Learning Center (http://www.mednscience.org) or by contacting the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. To receive this report in a format optimized for screen readers, please email [email protected]. Please cite this publication as: Stoms, D. M., P. A. Jantz, and F. W. Davis. 2012. Natural resource condition assessment: Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. Natural Resource Report NPS/SAMO/NRR— 2013/715. National Park Service, Fort Collins, Colorado. NPS 638/122510, September 2013 ii Contents Page Figures............................................................................................................................................. v Tables ............................................................................................................................................. ix Commonly Used Abbreviations ..................................................................................................... xi Executive Summary ..................................................................................................................... xiii Acknowledgments...................................................................................................................... xxiii Prologue ..................................................................................................................................... xxiii Chapter 1 NRCA Background Information .................................................................................. 1 Chapter 2. Park Resource Setting / Resource Stewardship Context ............................................... 5 Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 5 Natural Resources .................................................................................................................... 9 Resource Stewardship ............................................................................................................ 23 Chapter 3. Study Approach ........................................................................................................... 29 Preliminary Scoping .............................................................................................................. 29 Study Resources and Indicators ............................................................................................. 31 Study Methods ....................................................................................................................... 37 Chapter 4. Natural Resource Conditions ...................................................................................... 41 Regional/Landscape Context ................................................................................................. 41 Stressor: Housing Development ............................................................................................ 42 Stressor: Road distance and accessibility .............................................................................. 52 Stressor: Pesticides affecting amphibians .............................................................................. 61 Stressor: Rodenticides ........................................................................................................... 68 Stressor: Human Footprint ..................................................................................................... 75 Summary of stressors ............................................................................................................. 80 Resource Briefs ...................................................................................................................... 82 Air and Climate—Air quality ................................................................................................ 83 Air and Climate—Climate ..................................................................................................... 90 Water—Water quality ............................................................................................................ 98 iii Contents (continued) Page Biological integrity—Invasive species—Non-native invasive plants ................................. 108 Landscapes—Fire and fuel dynamics—Fire regime ........................................................... 115 Landscapes—Fire and fuel dynamics —Future fire regime ................................................ 124 Landscapes—Landscape dynamics—Habitat connectivity ................................................. 130 Landscapes—Viewscapes—Dark night sky ........................................................................ 139 Summary of resource assessments ....................................................................................... 142 Chapter 5. Discussion and Conclusions ...................................................................................... 147 Answers to Management and Research Questions .............................................................. 147 General Themes of the Assessment ..................................................................................... 151 Key Emerging Issues and Data Gaps ................................................................................... 152 Literature Cited ........................................................................................................................... 155 Appendix ..................................................................................................................................... 168 GIS data layers created for the assessment .......................................................................... 168 iv Figures Page Figure 1. Location map of SAMO. ................................................................................................. 7 Figure 2. Ownership by major park agencies at SAMO. ................................................................ 8 Figure 3. Societal conceptual model of drivers and stressors for SAMO. .................................... 35 Figure 4. Fire frequency conceptual model of stressors, pathways, and endpoint indicators. ...................................................................................................................................... 36 Figure 5. Geographic units for the three scales of condition assessment. .................................... 39 Figure 6. Proportion