The University of California Berkeley Herbarium contracted Aerial Information Systems, Inc. in 2008 to create a baseline inventory of wetlands and associated upland vegetation for approximately 38 square miles of land north of the city of Livermore, California, including and adjacent to the Springtown Alkali Sink Preserve. The vegetation map adheres to the 2008 National Vegetation Classification Standard (NVCS) and the Manual of California Vegetation.

One-foot natural color imagery flown in May 2005 was used as a base for the delineated polygons and photo interpretation signature in the focus study areas. Additional online digital imagery was deemed necessary as supplementary information and included the National Agricultural Inventory Program (NAIP) imagery flown in the summer of 2005 which was used as a base for areas outside of the focus studies.*Note: It is important to understand that the interpretation in the focus areas is georeferenced to the 1-foot 2005 imagery and will not line up precisely to the NAIP imagery in all cases. Therefore it is not advisable to view the delineations over the NAIP imagery, especially at a fine-scale level in the focus studies.

The complete mapping effort is divided into two phases. The first phase is the detailed mapping of several focus study areas which total approximately 4200 acres in size and include the Springtown Preserve and adjacent areas along with Brushy Peak and the upper Altamont Creek drainage. The Phase II portion involves the creation of a more generalized vegetation map for the remaining thirty square miles including much of the remaining Altamont Creek watershed in the northern portion of the Livermore Valley.