California Native Plant Society (CNPS) has initiated a project with partners at the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and The Nature Conservancy (TNC) to create a detailed vegetation map in the north‐western portion of the Ciervo‐Panoche Natural Area (CPNA). The classification is fully compatible with the National Vegetation Classification System (NVCS) (FGDC 2008) and the Manual of California Vegetation (Sawyer et al. 2009), which CNPS and CDFW jointly maintain.

Phase 1 of the project includes detailed vegetation mapping in the north‐western portion of the Ciervo‐Panoche Natural Area (CPNA). The project objectives during Phase 1 have included vegetation field sampling and vegetation mapping (photo‐interpretation, delineation, and attribution) in the north‐western CPNA. The vegetation map was based upon one‐meter resolution NAIP imagery taken in the summer of 2012. The minimum mapping unit (MMU) was 1 acre, with exceptions for wetland and other special types (0.5 acre MMU).

In March 2015, CNPS staff conducted 189 field validation surveys across 192 pre‐selected polygons. From this data, users' and producers' accuracy was estimated. Producer’s accuracy across all types with a sample size of 3 or more was 81%, while the user’s accuracy of types with a sample size of 3 or more was 86%, meeting state standards for accuracy. Producer and user accuracy was slightly lower across all types regardless of sample size (i.e., 77% and 81% respectively), though several types had only one sample.

More information can be found in the project reports, which are bundled with the vegetation map published for BIOS here: https://filelib.wildlife.ca.gov/Public/BDB/GIS/BIOS/Public_Datasets/3100_3199/ds3126.zip.