Appendix NW. The Northwestern California Region

The region encompasses 55,938 km² and is composed of three subregions: North Coast, Klamath Ranges, and North Coast Ranges. The latter is further divided into three districts: Outer North Coast Ranges, Inner North Coast Ranges, and High North Coast Ranges. The North Coast subregion is a narrow strip along the immediate coastline which contains truly coastal communities such as coastal prairie, fir/spruce forest, and closed cone pine or cypress. The Klamath Ranges contains a variety of montane conifer forests characterized by hemlock, grand fir, and chinqapin. The Outer North Coast Ranges receive high precipitation and therefore contain redwood and hardwood forests. The High North Coast Ranges are floristically more similar to the high Sierra Nevada with montane and subalpine conifer forests. The Inner North Coast Ranges adjacent to the Great Central Valley are hotter and drier than the rest of the region and are characterized by chaparral and pine/oak woodlands.

The Northwestern California region is well known as one of the highest centers of endemism and biodiversity in North America. In this region are found the majority of California's redwoods, pygmy coniferous forests in Mendocino, and a series of coastal confiers associated with forests further north including Sitka spruce, Western hemlock, Grand fir, and the more interior Port Orford cedar. Serpentinites and associated endemic plants are extensively distributed throughout the Northwest region, and contribute to the rich vegetation mosaic. Above 1300m lies a mixure of conifer stands, montane chaparral types, alpine meadows, and small, species rich wetlands. It is in this zone that the famous Enriched Conifer Forests of northern California are found. These stands contain up to 17 species of conifer growing in close proximity, several of which are endemic.

Status	Area (km²)	%
1	5,046	9.0
2	1,290	2.3
3	17,021	30.5
4	32,536	58.2
Total	55,893	100.0

The region has the fifth largest proportion of status level 1 land in the state, and a very similar profile to the Southwestern California region. We mapped 111 status 1 managed areas for the Northwestern California Region, covering 9.0% of the entire region. There are 12 privately owned managed areas, 8 Fish & Game ecological reserves, 32 USFS Research Natural Areas, and 10 USFS wilderness areas. Status 1 managed areas are dominated by 6 units greater than 10,000 ha: the Trinity Alps, Siskiyou, Marble Mountains, and Yollo-Bolly-Middle Eel wilderness areas, Redwoods National Park, the BLM King Range Conservation Area and Humboldt Redwoods State Park. Seventy-nine status 1 areas are less than 1000 ha in size (although a few of these also extend beyond this region).

Another 2.3 percent of the region is in 112 status 2 managed areas, consisting primarily of 27 state parks, 5 BLM ACEC's, and 8 Fish and Game wildlife areas. Status 2 areas are dominated by 4 units: the BLM King Range National Conservation Area, Humboldt Redwoods State Park, and the Whiskeytown Shasta Trinity National Recreation Area.

CNDDB Code	CNDDB Community Name (Holland 1986)	CNDDB Rank	Status 1 %	Status 2 %	Status 3 %	Status 4 %	Total Mapped Distribution (km²)	Status 1+2 %
21210	Northern Foredunes	S2.1	8.4	7.5	0.0	84.1	3.2	15.9
21310	Northern Dune Scrub	S1.2	3.6	7.7	0.2	88.5	106.9	11.3
32100	Northern (Franciscan) Coastal Scrub	S4/3.2/2.3	1.5	1.0	0.8	96.7	45.8	2.5
35210	Big Sagebrush Scrub	S4	0.0	0.0	8.0	92.0	10.8	0.0
37110	Northern Mixed Chaparral	S4	0.1	0.0	13.3	86.6	192.7	0.1
37200	Chamise Chaparral	S4	1.0	0.0	34.2	64.8	764.6	1.0
37510	Mixed Montane Chaparral	S4	40.5	2.4	44.2	13.0	216.8	42.9
37520	Montane Manzanita Chaparral	S4	30.0	0.0	46.8	23.2	216.4	30.0
37530	Montane Ceanothus Chaparral	S4/3.3	40.0	5.9	34.8	19.3	186.4	45.9
37541	Shin Oak Brush	S3.3	0.0	0.0	95.6	4.4	28.7	0.0
37542	Huckleberry Oak Chaparral	S3.3	30.1	0.0	51.1	18.8	109.3	30.1
37550	Bush Chinquapin Chaparral	S3.3	62.2	0.0	37.8	0.0	21.0	62.2
37610	Mixed Serpentine Chaparral	S2.1	0.0	0.0	35.2	64.8	155.3	0.0
37810	Buck Brush Chaparral	S4	0.5	4.7	40.4	54.3	225.4	5.2
37820	Blue Brush Chaparral	S4	0.0	0.0	0.0	100.0	6.0	0.0
37900	Scrub Oak Chaparral	S3.3	86.4	0.0	0.3	13.3	10.7	86.4
37E00	Mesic North Slope Chaparral	S3.3	21.5	0.2	34.2	44.1	175.2	21.7
41000	Coastal Prairie	S2.1	5.7	9.3	0.3	84.8	131.1	15.0
42200	Non-Native Grassland	S4	0.9	0.2	9.7	89.3	1,531.7	1.1
45100	Montane Meadow	S3.2	31.6	0.0	20.3	48.1	34.5	31.6
52110	Northern Coastal Salt Marsh	S3.2	1.3	33.0	0.0	65.8	4.4	34.3
52200	Coastal Brackish Marsh	S2.1	0.9	2.9	0.0	96.2	43.5	3.8
52410	Coastal and Valley Freshwater Marsh	S2.1	16.5	81.6	0.0	1.9	6.3	98.1
61110	North Coast Black Cottonwood Riparian Forest	S1.1	0.0	1.2	39.8	59.1	11.0	1.2
61130	Red Alder Riparian Forest	S2.2	5.4	12.5	1.1	81.0	18.0	17.9
61420	Great Valley Mixed Riparian Forest	S2.2	0.0	0.0	0.9	99.1	1.0	0.0
63100	North Coast Riparian Scrub	S3.2	1.4	2.5	7.9	88.2	99.3	3.9
71110	Oregon Oak Woodland	S3.3	1.8	0.6	29.7	67.9	1,970.1	2.4
71120	Black Oak Woodland	S3.2	1.7	0.9	31.1	66.3	630.9	2.6
71130	Valley Oak Woodland	S2.1	0.0	0.3	0.4	99.3	350.0	0.3
71140	Blue Oak Woodland	S3.2	0.1	0.9	18.6	80.4	2,646.4	1.0
71150	Interior Live Oak Woodland	S3.2	0.0	0.0	20.3	79.7	219.0	0.0
71160	Coast Live Oak Woodland	S4	0.0	0.0	0.1	99.9	87.9	0.0
71310	Open Foothill Pine Woodland	S4	2.2	0.2	28.7	68.9	235.7	2.4
71321	Serpentine Foothill Pine-Chaparral Woodland	S3.2	0.1	2.0	41.5	56.3	803.7	2.1
71322	Non-Serpentine Foothill Pine Woodland	S4	1.3	1.4	33.2	64.1	369.8	2.7
71410	Foothill Pine-Oak Woodland	S4	1.1	0.9	13.7	84.3	3,042.7	2.0
71420	Mixed North Slope Cismontane Woodland	S3.2	0.8	0.9	19.6	78.6	1,005.2	1.7
72100	Great Basin Woodlands	S3.2/4	0.0	0.0	20.5	79.5	577.0	0.0
81100	Mixed Evergreen Forest	S4	4.9	2.0	27.4	65.6	2,964.9	6.9
81200	California Bay Forest	S3.2	0.0	1.5	0.0	98.5	4.0	1.5
81310	Coast Live Oak Forest	S4	1.4	1.7	7.2	89.7	699.4	3.1
81320	Canyon Live Oak Forest	S4	4.5	1.4	31.4	62.7	475.1	5.9
81330	Interior Live Oak Forest	S4	0.4	0.4	6.3	92.9	1,007.2	0.8
81340	Black Oak Forest	S4	4.8	1.9	41.1	52.2	3,540.1	6.7
81400	Tan-Oak Forest	S4	6.2	0.8	35.3	57.7	1,735.2	7.0
82100	Sitka Spruce-Grand Fir Forestt	S1.1	10.4	11.6	0.0	78.0	339.3	22.0
82310	Alluvial Redwood Forest	NR	1.3	3.6	8.1	87.0	742.0	4.9
82320	Upland Redwood Forest	S2.3	4.9	5.5	4.5	85.2	4,607.7	10.4
82410	Coastal Douglas-Fir-Western Hemlock Forest	S2.1	1.4	7.0	29.4	62.2	32.4	8.4
82420	Upland Douglas-Fir Forest	S3.1	7.9	1.9	17.2	73.0	294.6	9.8
82500	Port Orford Cedar Forest	S2.1	88.2	0.0	10.7	1.1	5.5	88.2
83110	Beach Pine Forest	S2.1	0.0	32.0	0.0	68.0	14.0	32.0
83120	Bishop Pine Forest	S2.2	1.1	4.8	3.3	90.8	136.1	5.9
83161	Mendocino Pygmy Cypress Forest	S2.1	4.3	6.2	10.7	78.9	10.5	10.5
83210	Knobcone Pine Forest	S4	1.2	0.5	60.6	37.7	268.6	1.7
83220	Northern Interior Cypress Forest	S2.2	0.0	0.0	7.2	92.8	167.7	0.0
84110	Coast Range Mixed Coniferous Forest	S4	11.7	2.9	48.4	36.9	13,528.8	14.6
84130	Coast Range Ponderosa Pine Forest	S3.2/1.1	7.0	15.8	31.8	45.4	426.3	22.8
84160	Ultramafic White Pine Forest	S3.2	51.5	0.0	24.4	24.1	22.2	51.5
84171	Northern Ultramafic Jeffrey Pine Forest	S3.2	24.2	0.0	52.0	23.9	496.3	24.2
84180	Ultramafic Mixed Coniferous Forest	S4	7.6	0.6	81.9	9.9	236.5	8.2
84210	Westside Ponderosa Pine Forest	S2.1	29.3	0.2	46.5	24.0	1,332.4	29.5
84220	Eastside Ponderosa Pine Forest	S2.1	55.5	0.0	26.4	18.1	23.6	55.5
84230	Sierran Mixed Coniferous Forest	S4	19.8	0.7	46.2	33.3	1,762.2	46.9
84240	Sierran White Fir Forest	S4	51.7	0.0	40.6	7.7	315.7	51.7
85100	Jeffrey Pine Forest	S4	4.3	0.0	90.0	5.7	5.7	4.3
85210	Jeffrey Pine-Fir Forest	S4	16.7	0.0	68.1	15.2	383.0	16.7
85310	Red Fir Forest	S4	56.2	0.0	34.8	9.0	316.5	56.2
85410	Siskiyou Enriched Coniferous Forest	S1.2	44.3	0.0	48.5	7.2	245.1	44.3
85420	Salmon-Scott Enriched Coniferous Forest	S1.2	55.1	0.0	31.5	13.4	1,047.1	55.1
86100	Lodgepole Pine Forest	S4	10.1	0.5	78.7	10.8	21.2	10.6
91110	Klamath-Cascade Fell-field	S4	100.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	5.0	100.0
	Regional Total-Natural Communities						53,506
	Regional Total (incl nonvegetated)		9.0	2.3	30.5	58.2	55,926	11.3

Of the 73 natural plant communities, 56 have a mapped distribution greater than 25 km². These 56 plant communities are the focus of the vegetation analyses in this report. The most extensive community types mapped are Coast Range Mixed Coniferous Forest (84110), 13,529 km² (25.3% of native community types), Upland Redwood Forest (82320), 4,608 km² (8.6%), Black Oak Forest (81340), 3,540 km² (6.6%) and Foothill Pine-Oak Woodland (71410), 3,042 km² (5.7%).

It should be noted, however, that of the 17 plant community types mapped over less than 25 km² area, several are of conservation interest: Northern Foredunes (21210), Northern Coastal Salt Marsh (52110), Coastal and Valley Freshwater Marsh (52410), North Coast Black Cottonwood Riparian Forest (61110), Great Valley Mixed Riparian Forest (61420), Mendocino Pygmy Cypress Forest (83161), Beach Pine Forest (83110), Port Orford Cedar Forest (82500), Ultramafic White Pine Forest (84160), and Lodgepole Pine Forest (86100). The communities (inclusive) from Northern Foredunes to the Beach Pine Forests represent types that generally have a narrow extent where they occur. Because of the mapping resolution, they may be more extensive than indicated here.

The remaining communities under 25 km² are of interest for other reasons. All occur on ultramafic soils and potentially take a long time to reach maturity under these conditions. Port Orford Cedar (Cupressus lawsoniana) is a valuable commercial tree. These species do occur in the wider matrix of Mixed Coniferous Forest, but generally in limited extent. Where they tend to form dominant stands they may have associated serpentine endemics. Lodgepole and White Pine that are located on serpentines occu at lower elevations than when they occur on non-ultramafic soils. Port Orford Cedar is subject to a root rot, Phytophthora lateralis, which has spread through much of the cedar's range. Susceptibility to this pathogen is an additional concern assessing the vulnerability of Port Orford Cedar (Hawk 1977; Zobel et al. 1985).

Four categories of distribution are examined here for plant communities mapped over greater area than 25 km².

1. Plant community types mainly on status 4 (primarily private) lands. Seven types out of 56 have more than 90% of their mapped distribution on status 4 lands. These include: Valley Oak Woodland (71130, 99%), Coast Live Oak Woodland (71160, 100% in status 4), Northern (Franciscan) Coastal Scrub (32100, 96%), Coastal Brackish Marsh (52200, 96%), Interior Live Oak Forest (81330, 91%), Bishop Pine Forest (83120, 91%), and Northern Interior Cypress Forest (83220, 93%). Ten other community types are found to be at least 80% on status 4 lands. Thirty-three of the 56 types have greater than half of their mapped distributions on private land.

The degree to which chaparral lands in this region are being converted (i.e., to grasslands) or are vulnerable to grazing is unknown. Chamise Chaparral (62% on private lands) did not appear to be undergoing conversion and so may not be as vulnerable as indicated by this analysis. Species chararcteristic of Northern Mixed Chaparral (75%) are found in many other CNDDB community types. This type seems to fit less well in the Northwestern region than it does in regions further south.

Coast Live Oak (71160) and Valley Oak (71130) Woodlands are the two types at greatest risk, having virtually no formal protection in this region. Blue Oak (71140) and Interior Live Oak (71150 and 81330) woodlands and forests are frequently subject to livestock grazing and to a lesser extent to firewood cutting.

Of the conifer types that are mostly on status 4 lands, many are coastal, a reflection of general land ownership patterns. Redwood Forests (82310 and 82320) are about 85% on status 4 lands, and much of the remainder is on public lands available for logging. Most Redwood Forests on private land are in early successional stages.

2. Scrub, chaparral, and herbaceous types mainly located in unprotected areas. Nine of the 17 scrub, chaparral, and herbaceous types mapped to areas greater than 25 km² are represented by less than 10% in status 1 or 2. Shin Oak Brush (37541) and Mixed Serpentine Chaparral (37610) are both unrepresented (0%) in status 1 and 2 within this region. Northern Mixed Chaparral (37110) is virtually unprotected in the region as well. Other types in this category include Northern (Franciscan) Coastal Scrub (32100), Chamise Chaparral (37200), Buck Brush Chaparral (37810), Non-Native Grassland (42200), Coastal Brackish Marsh (52200), and North Coast Riparian Scrub (63100).

Scrub and chaparral types are potentially at risk in the long-term due to fire suppression. The majority of the types (except for Coastal Brackish Marsh and North Coast Riparian Scrub) are fire-adapted communities, which tend to undergo a seral shift when fire is suppressed.

3. Forest and Woodland types located mainly in unprotected areas. Twenty-five of 37 forest and woodland types identified as over 25 km² in area have less than 10% status 1 or 2 representation. This includes the 15 oak and foothill pine types mentioned in category 1 above. Several types have no representation in this region, including Interior Live Oak Woodland (71150), Coast Live Oak Woodland (71160), Great Basin Woodlands (72100), and Northern Interior Cypress Forest (83220). Alluvial Redwood Forest (82310) is represented by 4.9%, and Ultramafic Mixed Coniferous Forest (84180) by 8.2%. These types are of particular interest due to their limited presence outside the region.Coastal Douglas Fir-Western Hemlock (82410) is represented in status 1 or 2 by 8.4% and Upland Douglas Fir Forest (82420), 9.8%. These types extend into Oregon, and so their vulnerability in California represents less than 1/2 of their entire range. Knobcone Pine Forest (83210), 1.7%, is a type that typically appears after fire, and is relatively short lived. As with other disturbance related vegetation types, it is difficult to say if a vulnerability analysis based on management status is appropriate, since human caused disturbances may have either a positive or negative effect on their distribution, depending on the perturbation and the ecological conditions on a site. Fires suppression tends to have a negative effect, however.

4. Community types that appear well protected. Eleven plant communities of the 56 in the region with areas greater than 25 km² have more than 25% of their extent in status 1 and 2. These 11 types are clumped into montane chaparral and coniferous forest communities, generally at higher elevations. Four montane chaparral types (37510, 37520, 37530, and 37542) are well-represented, with over 30% each. Montane meadows are repesented by 32% of their extent, but these may be subject to grazing impacts. None of the oak types are included in this category. Westside Ponderosa Pine Forest (84210), Sierran Mixed Coniferous Forest (84230), Sierran White Fir Forest (84240), and Red Fir Forest (85310) are well represented, and also occur in extensive tracts beyond the region. Siskiyou Enriched Coniferous Forest (85410) and Salmon-Scott Enriched Coniferous Forest (85420) are well-represented with approximately 50%, but have narrow overall distributions (245 and 1,047 km²). As they are found nowhere else in the world, their conservation is still a management concern, despite the high level of representation.

The biggest single implication from this analysis is that all oak types in the region are to be considered at risk. This is not surprising, as the normal procedure by which protected areas have been designated involves selecting sites on public lands at minimum cost to human activities. This tends to place all the reserves at high elevation. Oaks grow on lower elevations and so generally fail to have had reserves sited around them.

Other implications of interest include the adequate representation of enriched conifer types in protected status, inadequate representation of serpentine vegetation associations, and the relatively small representation of Redwood types in protected status- given their regional status and narrow distribution. Land-cover types below the resolution of the analysis which are none the less important at this scale include the Mendocino Pygmy Forest, Port Orford Cedar Forest, and all riparian types.

Seral condition is an important component of the conservation status in forested vegetation types. Chaparral and grassland types in the Northwestern California region often occur in locations where disturbance (usually fire) is frequent enough that seral estimates are less relevant. For forest types, however, seral condition is an indicator of the structural complexity of the forest. The more advanced the seral condition, the more potential habitat spaces are available, and often, the greater the species richness of a stand. Late seral condition is often associated with areas which have not been logged, or which have had little disturbance under current management regimes. From a conservation perspective, late seral is desirable, as is evidenced by the fact 16 out of 19 Forest Service RNAs in the Klamath region that focus on forest types have late seral forests within them. The other three represent either serpentine outcrop locations or forests which are relatively younger because of fire or logging earlier in the century (Keeler-Wolf 1990).

Perhaps the most salient example of the importance of seral condition is the assessment of Redwood types. We mapped two types: 742 km² of Alluvial Redwood Forests and 4,608 km² of Upland Redwood Forests. Alluvial Redwood Forests have 4.9% in status levels 1 and 2, and Upland Redwood Forests are 10.4% protected.

Estimates of total late seral, or old growth forests in the Pacific Northwest (~228,000 km² ) range from about 7-14% of the region (Forest Ecosystem Management Assessment Team 1993). There is probably between 6-10% old growth Redwood left, almost all of which is located on protected federal lands. We know that 14% is an overestimate, because old growth Redwoods on private lands are well documented (see below), there is practically no old growth Redwood on Status 3 lands, and Redwoods on Status classes 1 and 2 (10.4% of total) are not all old growth.

Redwood holdings on private land account for 4659.6 km² or 85.3% of all redwoods in the region, very little of which is old growth. The fate of the small amount which is on private land is currently being debated. The last intact groves, located around the Headwaters Grove, are variously reported as 12-16 km² (3000-4000 acres) in extent. All other old growth fragments on private land are considerably smaller than this. The tremendous value of redwoods has created an intense competition for the trees and federal and state governments attempting to arrange a compromise at Headwaters.

Given that old growth redwood has both ecological importance to the region and high tourism value, what might seem a slightly under-represented combination of types under the normal gap analysis, takes on considerably more importance when the age and value of the stands is taken into consideration. It will be useful for policy makers to examine the GAP data in conjunction with seral data in dealing with this issue.