Vegetation - Santa Clara and Santa Cruz Counties [ds3116]

Under contract to the Santa Cruz Mountains Stewardship Network with support from the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy, and staffed by personnel from Tukman Geospatial, Aerial Information Systems (AIS), and Kass Green and Associates, Tukman Geospatial and Aerial Information Systems created a fine-scale vegetation map of portions of Santa Cruz and Santa Clara Counties. CDFW''s Vegetation Classification and Mapping Program (VegCAMP) provided in-kind service to allocate and score the AA. The mapping study area, consists of approximately 1,133,106.8 acres, of Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties. Work was performed on the project between 2020 and 2023. The Santa Cruz and Santa Clara fine-scale vegetation map was designed for a broad audience for use at many floristic and spatial scales and is useful to managers interested in specific information about vegetation composition and forest health.CNPS under separate contract and in collaboration with CDFW VegCAMP developed the floristic vegetation classification used for the project. The floristic classification follows protocols compliant with the Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) and National Vegetation Classification Standards (NVCS).The vegetation map was produced with countywide vegetation survey data and combined with surveys from CNPS. Trimble® Ecognition® followed by manual image interpretation that was used to map lifeforms. Fine-scale segmentation was conducted using Trimble Ecognition® and relies on summer 2020 4-band NAIP, the 2020 lidar-derived canopy height model, and a suite of spectral indices derived from the NAIP. They utilized a type of algorithmic data modeling known as machine learning to automate the classification of fine-scale segments into one of Santa Cruz and Santa Clara Counties 121 fine-scale map classes. The minimum mapping unit (MMU) is set by feature type. For agricultural classes, the MMU is 1/4 acre, for woody upland classes is 1/2 acre, woody riparian is 1/4 acre, upland herbaceo