Number of pages: 122

Day: 28

Month: June

Year: 2007

Purpose: The Ramona Grasslands are located in the Santa Maria Valley, situated between the coastal mesas and the mountains of the Peninsular Ranges in west-central San Diego County (Figure 1). About two-thirds of what was once an extensive grassland ecosystem in the Valley has been lost to development. The Santa Maria Valley’s remaining grasslands are largely intact, though fragmented by roads and subjected to edge effects by adjacent residential and infrastructure development. In recognition of its unique natural resource values, The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and California Department of Fish and Game (CDFG) included most of this remaining habitat, along with the surrounding foothills to the north and south, in the roughly 8,000-acre Ramona Grasslands Wildlife Area Conceptual Area Protection Plan (CAPP, CDFG 2002). The CAPP was the inception of the County of San Diego’s Ramona Grasslands Preserve (Preserve). These Area Specific Management Directives (ASMDs) provide guidance to maintain, enhance, and monitor the conservation values of biological resources within the Preserve (Figure 2). The ASMDs build from the scientific framework laid out in the Framework Management and Monitoring Plan for the Ramona Grasslands Open Space Preserve, San Diego County, California (CBI 2004). In 2003, the State Water Resources Control Board awarded a Proposition 13 grant to the County of San Diego for the protection and restoration of a portion of Santa Maria Creek and adjacent ephemeral aquatic habitats (e.g., vernal pools, vernal swales, and alkali playas) in the Ramona Grasslands. The project area of the Proposition 13 grant was the core grasslands area of the CAPP (Figure 2), including Santa Maria Creek, which supports many of the unique biological resource values represented in the greater Ramona Grasslands. The purpose of this plan is to: • Guide the management of habitats, species, and programs described herein to protect and enhance wildlife values; • Guide appropriate public uses of the property; • Inventory fish, wildlife and native plant habitats, which occur on or use this property; • Serve as a description of archaeological and/or historical resources which occur on this property; • Determine proper adaptive management techniques; and • Provide an overview of the property’s operation, maintenance and personnel requirements to implement management goals, and serves as a budget planning aid.

Prepared for: County of San Diego, Department of Parks and Recreation;

Prepared by: Conservation Biology Institute;

Keywords: adaptive management; Area Specific Management Directives;