As part of the monitoring program in the Plan of Protection, a Triennial Vegetation Survey was developed to document the overall vegetation composition of the Suisun Marsh and to monitor Salt Marsh Harvest Marsh (SMHM) habitat by the use of aerial photography in combination with ground verification. The vegetation map adheres to the 1998 National Vegetation Classification Standard (NVCS) and the 1995 Manual of California Vegetation (MCV).

The mapping study area consists of approximately 69,323 acres of Solano county. The map consists of 39,460 vegetation polygons. SPOT satellite imagery acquired June, 1999 was utilized as a base for the delineated polygons and photo interpretation signature in the focus study areas. This vegetation mapping project of Suisun Marsh blends ground-based classification, aerial photo interpretation, and GIS editing and processing. The method is based on the development of a quantitative vegetation classification, which is used to describe the vegetation map units of the marsh. The minimum mapping unit (MMU) for this project was 0.5 acre. Delineation was done without attempting to classify the signatures; all visibly different signatures were delineated. A small number of the resulting polygons were below the general 0.5 acre minimum; these were drawn because they had distinctive photo signatures.

Accuracy Assessments (AA) were performed, beginning in September 2000. During this effort, team members utilized Global Position System (GPS) to locate delineated vegetation polygons and accuracy assessment forms were completed. A total of 271 vegetation polygons were visited during this effort.

The project report is available for download at: https://nrm.dfg.ca.gov/FileHandler.ashx?DocumentID=90000