CNDDB News Blog

The following Vegetation Classification and Mapping Program (VegCAMP) documents have been updated:

• Natural Communities List Arranged Alphabetically by Life Form (PDF)
• Natural Communities List Arranged Alphabetically by Life Form (Excel)
• Sensitive Natural Communities Only by Life Form (PDF)
• Sensitive Natural Communities Only by Life Form (Excel)
• Recent changes in Natural Communities (PDF)
• Recent changes in Natural Communities Rarity (PDF)

These documents are updated twice a year and reflect VegCAMP's current lists of vegetation Alliances, Associations, and Special Stands, as well as their global and state rarity ranks. Sensitive communities are marked with a "Y" under the "Sensitive" column in the lists. Links to the Natural Communities lists can be found on the VegCAMP Natural Communities web page. If you have any questions about these lists, please email us at VegCAMP@wildlife.ca.gov.

The following CNDDB documents have been updated:

• Special Vascular Plants, Bryophytes, and Lichens List (PDF)
• Endangered, Threatened, and Rare Plants List (PDF)
• Changes to the CNDDB Special Vascular Plants, Bryophytes, and Lichens List (PDF)
• Special Animals List (PDF)
• Endangered and Threatened Animals List (PDF)

Links to the T&E and Special Plants/Animals lists can be found on the CNDDB Plants and Animals web page. More information about state listing can be found on the California Fish and Game Commission CESA web page and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife CESA web page. If you have any questions about these lists, please email us at CNDDB@wildlife.ca.gov.

Desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii) on the sandy desert floor of the Mojave Desert
Photo credit: Clayton Harrison/Shutterstock

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) will be conducting a status review for the desert tortoise to inform the California Fish and Game Commission's decision on whether to uplist the species from threatened to endangered under the California Endangered Species Act (CESA). More details about the uplist proposal and CDFW's request for public comments may be found in our CDFW newsletter. As part of this process, the CNDDB would like to encourage anyone who has observed desert tortoises to submit their findings to us before August 1st.

The desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii) is found in the Mojave Desert, the western Sonoran Desert and the southern Great Basin Desert. They spend much of the year underground in burrows to shelter from extreme temperatures. When they do emerge, they feed on native forbs and grasses. Their densities have declined drastically in many places in California in the past 20 years. Threats include habitat fragmentation, development in these desert regions, increasing drought due to climate change, invasive grasses out-competing food items preferred by tortoise, disease, predation by coyotes and ravens, and human-caused mortality.

We need your help in better understanding the status of the desert tortoise. If you have ever seen desert tortoises in the wild, submit your findings to us through our Online Field Survey Form. Together, we can help the Fish and Game Commission make an informed decision on the uplisting proposal for the desert tortoise.