Indicator
Relative Abundance of Shrub Vegetation Type
Basics
Relative Abundance of Shrub Vegetation Type
Shrubs
Outcome
Program
Each Unit (number)
VP6: Relative Abundance - Of the total amount of undisturbed vegetation in the Tahoe Basin: Maintain no more than 25 percent dominant shrub association vegetation.
Percent of the undisturbed landscape dominated by shrub vegetation.
This Indicator is reported in the following LT Info areas:
Status

Estimated percent of land area dominated by “shrub” vegetation in the Lake Tahoe Region relative to the TRPA-adopted target of 25 percent. The effects of the 2021 Caldor Fire and the recent mortality event in the yellow pine and red fir communities along the west shore, are anticipated to significantly impact future abundance distributions. These disturbances are likely to reshape the landscape and may facilitate a transition to shrub vegetation types in those areas, necessitating a reevaluation of baseline data in future assessments. Sources: (USDA 2017)

Data provided by the USDA Forest Service, R5 Remote Sensing Lab. Access detailed datasets on Tahoe Open Data, including, vegetation type summary, vegetation spatial data, and detailed vegetation attributes.

Name Options
Abundance Of Shrubs
General

Program Shrub Abundance Monitoring

Approach

Updated vegetation maps were not available for this evaluation. Instead, the most recent data from 2009 is used. Periodically, the Tahoe vegetation map is updated with new satellite data (if available) and/or modeled and calibrated using field-based forest inventory and analysis data to assess the extent of different vegetation types and associated forest structure characteristics for the Region (USDA, 2009; Warbington et al., 2011). Vegetation types associated with shrubs were queried and enumerated from the most recently available vegetation map (U.S. Forest Service - Remote Sensing Lab Pacific Southwest Region: TMU_Strata_07 [published 2009]). As shown in Table 1 California Wildlife Habitat Relationship types were queried to represent shrub vegetation in this evaluation.

Partners

Associated Programs data not provided.