San Diego Management & Monitoring Program

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Vertebrate Species
Cactus Wren Occupancy Study and Cactus Patch Mapping

Project description

Given the extent and severity of the 2003 and 2007 wildfires in San Diego County there is an increase cause for concern in understanding the amount of available habitat and the percent of that habitat that is occupied by the coastal cactus wren. The USFWS has developed and refined a protocol for conducting coastal cactus wren monitoring. USFWS tested the protocol by completing surveys in 2009 and 2010. All southwest and southeast facing slopes below 1,500 feet, within San Diego MSCP preserve lands, were mapped for the occurrence of cactus patches. Once cactus patches were mapped in GIS, these patches were segmented into plots and surveyed for cactus wrens.

Project groups

SDMMP34

Project Group: Cactus Wren Occupancy Study and Cactus Patch Mapping

Project location

County: San Diego

General: Central-central, Central-west, South-central, South-west

MU: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

Project focus

Project type: Monitoring

Target species: Coastal cactus wren

Target vegetation: coastal sage scrub

Implementing entities

Main implementing entity: U.S. Fish and Widlife Service, Carlsbad Fish and Wildlife Office

SDMMP lead: Kris Preston

Study lead: Clark Winchell

Strategic elements

Budget year: pre FY15-1; Work plan objectives number:

Files and Documents

Aug2011_FINAL_Cactus Wren Survey Protocol_USFWS.pdf

Author(s):Winchell, Clark

DRAFT_2009 USFWS Cactus Mapping Protocol.pdf