This project's objective is to create a map of ecological integrity using remotely sensed data. Data sources include high resolution lidar and high resolution 4-band imagery from multiple sources. Final products from this work will include: 1) an updated high resolution Digital Elevation Model, 2) an updated high resolution Digital Surface Model, 3) a raster image depicting vegetation height (using lidar), 4) a raster image depicting herbaceous, shrub, and tree cover, 5) a map layer of ecological integrity (at a 50m grid) for coastal sage scrub, chaparral, oak woodlands, and riparian woodlands. Ecological integrity is defined for each vegetation community independently, based on analysis of previous field work. This project will build off the information and products previously created.

The USGS conducted the experimental implementation of sampling MSP sites during wet year conditions. The project utilized a stratified sampling design and a protocol developed in 2014. A combination of GIS and field measured covariates were used to identify drivers that impact Argentine ant population dynamics. The project also included developing potential measures to make the site less or unsuitable for Argentine ants. The outcome of this study will inform management actions for experimental implementation.

Surveys for arroyo toad have been conducted across San Diego County by various biologists from federal and state agencies, educational institutions, and non-governmental organizations. For over 20 years the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has been one of the agencies conducting various arroyo toad studies throughout San Diego County in collaboration with other agencies and academic partners. Since 2000, USGS has conducted various monitoring and inventory surveys to determine the status of the species on conserved lands (Brown and Fisher 2002, Ervin, Hathaway, and Fisher 2002, Meyer et al. 2003, Hitchcock, Backlin, and Fisher 2004a, 2004b, Madden-Smith Ervin, and Fisher 2005). USGS has expanded studies on the arroyo toad to assess impacts from disturbance, management operations, and naturally occurring disturbance such as wildfires and drought (Madden-Smith et al. 2003, Madden-Smith, Ervin, and Fisher 2005, Mendelsohn, Madden-Smith, and Fisher 2005, Brown et al. 2020, Gallegos et al. 2021, Hitchcock et al. 2022). USGS has also continued to refine and improve survey methods, data collection, and analysis methods to better inform status and trends, threats and stressors, and responses of arroyo toads to habitat and water management (Brehme et al. 2006, 2011, 2019). This project builds on this previous work by USGS and partners to develop and implement a monitoring plan for arroyo toad across San Diego County.  Background: The arroyo toad (Anaxyrus californicus) is a habitat specialist endemic to the coastal plains and mountains of central and southern California and northwestern Baja California (Jennings and Hayes 1994). It has a life span of seven to eight years (Fisher et al. 2018). The species primarily inhabits low gradient streams and rivers composed of sandy soils and containing sandy streamside terraces (Sweet 1992 and 1993, Barto 1999). Reproduction depends on availability of shallow, still, or low flow pools in which breeding, egg laying, and tadpole development occur over 65–85 days (Sweet 1992). These habitat requirements are largely determined by natural hydrological cycles and scouring flood events (USFWS 1999, Madden-Smith et al. 2003).   In 1994, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) listed the arroyo toad as endangered in response to a decline of 75% of its historic distribution within the United States (Jennings and Hayes 1994, USFWS 1994) due to extensive habitat loss, human modification to natural water flow regimes, and introduction of non-native predators. The USFWS released a recovery plan for the arroyo toad in 1999 (USFWS 1999) and reviewed its classification status in 2014, which remained as endangered (USFWS 2015). Arroyo toads were detected in 80% of the 25 his

In 2017, USGS conducted Least Bell's Vireo surveys at the Tijuana River to document the species' status 2 years after the Kuroshio Shothole Borer/Fusarium Dieback infestation and compare it to historic vireo abundance and distribution.

From 2014-2026, a Management and Monitoring Strategic Plan (MSP Roadmap) monitoring objective for 30 rare plant species is to inspect occurrences to determine management needs. The inspect and manage (IMG) objective is implemented to document the status of rare plant occurrences and assess habitats and threats to develop specific management recommendations. IMG monitoring is implemented by a combination of land managers and contracted biologists in coordination with the SDMMP. Available rare plant data is posted below. New annual updates are typically posted in March. Based upon an evaluation of these data, a 2014-2026 monitoring schedule has been developed for the 30 rare plant species (attached below). Coordinating data collection across the region allows analyses of species and population trends over time and provides a better understanding of the association between habitat and threat covariates and population dynamics.

The San Dieguito River Valley Conservancy (SDRVC) developed the San Dieguito Citizen Science Monitoring Program as a sustainable, cost-effective, and scientifically valid approach to gather critical data on lands within the San Dieguito River Park Focused Planning Area. This program seeks to fill knowledge gaps on the diversity, population, movements and spatial ecology of species within the watershed to better inform future land acquisitions, adaptive land management, habitat and species restoration, educational initiatives and future research. One of the main objectives of this program is to gather data that is consistent and shared with other regional planning efforts being coordinated by the San Diego Management & Monitoring Program. Data collected is submitted to regional databases and will help meet the management goals and objectives identified in the Management & Monitoring Strategic Plan. Annual expert-led surveys are carried out by volunteer citizen scientists following approved protocols and encourage community involvement and engagement.

As a program, SDMMP has regionally monitored 52 species and regionally surveyed 68 species across all taxa; monitored and/or mapped 8 vegetation communities; and modeled, assessed, and mapped 8 threats and stressors. Additionally, the SDMMP has completed 27 genetic studies, 80 research studies, 18 habitat models, and interacted with more than 75 partner groups. The table provided breaks down management and monitoring tasks that have been completed by species, vegetation community, and threats.

This project will contribute to development and dissemination of the essential building blocks of an effective lntegrative Pest Management (lPM) program used to prevent further spread and to manage impacts. The objectives are to: 1. Determine FD-SHB distribution with respect to key LBVI and SWFL habitat along the San Luis Rey River; 2. Evaluate preventative and curative biological, mechanical, and chemical control measures appropriate for different vegetation type 3. Train land managers on field identification of FD-SHB in Native Vegetation.

The southwestern pond turtles (Actinimeys pallida; pond turtle) has been declining throughout its range and has been extirpated from much of coastal southern California (Bury and Germano 2008, Thomson et al. 2016). Historically, the pond turtle inhabited coastal draining streams, ponds, and lakes, fed primarily on small aquatic invertebrates and vegetation, and had no native aquatic predators (Bury and Germano 2008). However, threats to the pond turtle now include altered hydrology (dams and diversions), habitat fragmentation, direct mortality from roads and development, and predation by nonnative aquatic species (NAS) including American bullfrogs (Lithobates catesbeianus, bullfrog) and largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) (Brattstrom and Messer 1988, Stephenson and Calcarone 1999). The USGS conducts research on the natural history of and threats and impacts to reptiles and amphibians in coastal southern California to understand the demography of rare and listed taxa in the region. The research aims to study the responses of the pond turtle to both threats and management actions. Specifically, USGS research seeks to understand the causes of decline of the pond turtle on conserved lands within San Diego's conserved lands and how the populations respond to management actions including pond turtle translocations and NAS removal. Translocations of pond turtles, removal of nonnative species, habitat restoration, and restoration of connectivity have been the primary tools used for restoration of pond turtle populations within the MSPA of San Diego County, CA since 2009. In 2009, the USGS partnered with San Diego Zoo and CDFW to study the effects of removing NAS and headstarting (raising hatchlings in a controlled environment before releasing them to the wild) pond turtles at CDFW’s Sycuan Peak Ecological Reserve (SPER). In 2014, the USGS began to study translocations of adult pond turtles as a conservation tool, and 18 pond turtles were translocated from private ponds in the Pine Valley Creek watershed to ponds at CDFW’s Rancho Jamul Ecological Reserve (RJER) to evaluate the potential to restore the pond turtle to the Otay River watershed. In 2019, the USGS translocated 12 pond turtles in the San Dieguito watershed from Black Canyon to a pond near the headwaters of Scholder Creek at The Nature Conservancy’s Mesa Grande Easement with eight additional pond turtles translocated in subsequent years (Sebes et al. 2024a). USGS continues to monitor headstarted and translocated populations for recruitment, study the removal of NAS, and conduct surveys on new or remote conserved lands to find additional populations and restoration sites.