Vegetation - Knoxville Wildlife Areas [ds2812]

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (Department) Vegetation Classification and Mapping Program (VegCAMP) created a fine-scale vegetation classification and map of the southern addition to the Departments Knoxville Wildlife Area (WA), Napa County, California following State Vegetation Survey, Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC), and National Vegetation Classification (NVC) Standards (Grossman et al 1998). The vegetation classification was derived from data collected in the field following the Combined Rapid Assessment and Relevé Protocol during the periods November 18''20, 2013 and April 28''May 1, 2014. Vegetation polygons were drawn using heads-up manual digitizing using the 2011 Napa County 30-cm resolution color infrared (CIR) imagery as the base imagery. Supplemental imagery included National Agricultural Imagery Program (NAIP) true color and CIR 1-meter resolution data from 2009''2012, BING imagery, and current and historical imagery from Google Earth. The minimum mapping unit (MMU) is 1 acre, with the exception of wetland types, which have an MMU of 1/2 acre. Ponds, riparian types, and the one vernal pool on the WA that were visible on the imagery were mapped regardless of size, and streams were generally mapped if greater than 10 m wide (narrower portions may have been mapped to maintain the continuity of the streams). Mapping is to the NVC hierarchy association, alliance, or group level based on the ability of the photointerpreters to distinguish types based on all imagery available and on the field data. Both the existing (northern) and new addition (southern) portions of the Knoxville WA were mapped in 2002 as part of the Napa County vegetation map (https://nrm.dfg.ca.gov/FileHandler.ashx?DocumentID=14660). The 2002 map is at a coarse thematic resolution (alliance through macrogroup level) and vegetation in portions of the WA has changed since the 2004 Rumsey Fire, necessitating this map update. We have produced an updated version of the KWA portion of the 2002 map layer that uses the same spatial data, but added a crosswalk to the current classification and the upper levels of the current hierarchy. This map layer is included in the downloaded dataset for this map and an expanded metadata report for that crosswalk can be found at https://nrm.dfg.ca.gov/FileHandler.ashx?DocumentID=164825.