San Diego Tracking Team 20080101 v1.80 vector digital data ftp://ftp.dfg.ca.gov/BDB/GIS/BIOS/Public_Datasets/400_499/ds442.zip http://bios.dfg.ca.gov The San Diego Tracking Team (SDTT) is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the preservation of wildlife habitat in San Diego County through citizen-based wildlife monitoring coupled with environmental education programs. For over 10 years, the SDTT has conducted wildlife track and sign surveys to evaluate the health of key species, the connectivity of open space areas, and the efficacy of the city and county's Multiple Species/Habitat Conservation Plans. Scientific advisors from public resource agencies and academic institutions oversee the tracking protocol, and SDTT data is used in planning transportation and urban development projects, as well as in studies on land use in fragmented habitats (Markovchick-Nicholls et al. 2008). Surveys are conducted by trained volunteers from all over San Diego County who together commit over 1500 hours per year to monitoring approximately 50 locations around the county. Transects of approximately one mile in length and 30 feet in width are designated on dirt trails and roads throughout open space lands in San Diego County. Each transect is divided up into multiple segments of variable length ranging from 6-1708 meters (20-5600 ft). Transect teams, which consist of an experienced Transect Leader and from 1 to 6 trained volunteers, survey transects on a seasonal basis each year. This dataset represents a summary of SDTT data collected from 1996-2006. Any track or sign identified from the following animals was recorded during surveys: coyote, mule deer, bobcat, gray fox, raccoon, opossum, wood rat, badger, black-tailed jack rabbit, cougar, black bear, spotted skunk, long-tailed weasel, ringtail and roadrunner. If a track or sign was observed, the location (transect number and transect section) and type of sign (scat, tracks, deer browse, evidence of predation, den/bed site, sighting) were recorded on data sheets. In addition, age of the sign (Fresh, less than two weeks old or Historic, more than two weeks old) was recorded. Additional data on presence of small mammals (cottontails, skunks, squirrels, or rodents) and habitat characteristics (i.e. topography, vegetation type) were recorded as well as tracking conditions. The two goals of the SDTT are: 1) to monitor the wildlife of Los Peñasquitos Canyon Preserve and other specified open spaces in the San Diego area through the use of periodic track and sign count transects and 2) to enhance environmental awareness, community involvement, and appreciation for local habitats by encouraging volunteer participation in the study. This dataset will allow the determination of the following: 1) the presence or absence of certain rare species and other target species which can reflect the health of the ecosystem; 2) substantial changes in wildlife populations over time; and 3) the use of different habitats by the target species which could lead to the identification of critical habitat areas and corridors (Markovchick-Nicholls et al. 2008). It is intended that the information gathered by the SDTT will be used to identify potential restoration and/or mitigation opportunities for important habitats and corridors in support of San Diego's Multiple Species Conservation Plan. DATA COMPILATION HISTORY: The San Diego Tracking Team (SDTT) has conducting tracking surveys in San Diego County since 1996. Tracking data were recorded on paper in the field and entered into an MS Access database by the volunteer Database Coordinator. QA/QC of the data is conducted after data has been entered into the SDTT database. Additional information on the Vegetation and Reserve Names in San Diego County were compiled by Jonah Evans of Nature Tracking and uploaded into the SDTT database. SPATIAL DATA CAPTURE METHODS: GPS coordinates of the starting point of each transect segment were collected in 2000 and for all transects initiated after 2000, recorded on the first survey of each transect. Spatial data of transect section start points were compiled by Transect Leaders and are maintained separately from the Access database. Spatial data were collected using hand-held GPS units and projected in either NAD83 or WGS84. Midpoint coordinates of each segment were calculated by Jonah Evans of Nature Tracking by averaging the segment start coordinates (Evans 2008). This data was later uploaded into the SDTT Access database. Spatial data were joined with tracking data from the SDTT database and a spatial layer was developed as part of the Southern California Data Integration Project. Data were imported into ArcGIS 9.2 to create the spatial data layer and associated metadata. REFERENCES: Markovchick-Nicholls, L., H. M. Reagan, D. H. Deutschman, A. Widyanata, B. Martin, L. Noreke, and T. A. Hunt. 2008. Relationships between Human Disturbance and Wildlife Land Use in Urban Habitat Fragments. Conservation Biology 22 (1): 99-109. Markovchick-Nicholls, L. 2006. San Diego Tracking Team Phase III Data Analysis: Summary Report. Submitted to San Diego Tracking Team. Evans, J. 2008. San Diego Tracking Team Phase 4 Data Analysis: Final Report. Submitted to San Diego Tracking Team, April 2008. 19960101 20060101 ground condition Complete None planned -117.297079 -116.476075 33.188443 32.544272 ISO 19115 Topic Category biota environment None coyote bobcat gray fox ringtail long-tailed weasel black-tailed jackrabbit Multiple Species Conservation Plan raccoon roadrunner badger animal tracks wood rat opossum cougar mule deer spotted skunk None San Diego County California None site appropriately San Diego Tracking Team Doug Hansen Database Coordinator physical

540 S. Broadway

Apt. D

Escondido CA 92025 (858) 952-9853 hansend@cox.net Lisa Markovchick-Nicholls, San Diego State University; Jonah Evans, Nature Tracking Microsoft Windows 7 Version 6.1 (Build 7601) Service Pack 1; Esri ArcGIS 10.3.1.4959 A preliminary cross-validation study of tracker bias was conducted by Lisa Markovchick-Nicholls of San Diego State University (Markovchick-Nicholls 2006). Random transect sections were surveyed by Barry Martin, the most experienced tracker involved in the SDTT, and then by Transect Leaders, immediately after Martin completed the survey. The following determinations were made in this study: 1. Although agreement (between Martin and other transect leaders) on the exact number of species in each section is lower than desirable, overall agreement on the community composition of species present in sections was reasonable. 2. Trackers appear to over-estimate the number of species in sections with low numbers of species (as compared to Martin) and under-estimate the number of species present in sections with high numbers of species. 3. Since overall community composition of sections appears slightly more reliable than the number of observations per species in each section, evaluation of the data as presence / absence data rather than numerical data may be advisable. GPS data represent the midpoint of a transect section and were calculated by averaging the start and end points of a transect section, thus do not necessarily represent an actual point on a transect. The endpoints of Transects 30 and 43 were not known, so the midpoints of section 5 for both transects were estimated (see Process Step 2). Coordinate data of transect segment midpoints were merged with the tracking data in MS Access and imported into ArcMap 9.2. Some transect coordinates were initially collected using NAD1983 and were reprojected to WGS 1984, the projection used for the majority of the spatial data. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Elise Watson GIS Analyst unknown

6010 Hidden Valley Road

Carlsbad CA 92009 (760) 431-9440 x348 elise_watson@fws.gov Midpoint coordinate data for Sections 5 of Transect 30 and 43 were calculated using estimated endpoints. The endpoint coordinate was estimated using section length and transect description data provided by SDTT. The midpoint was then determined using the Spatial Statistics Mean Center tool in ArcGIS 9.2. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Elise Watson unknown

6010 Hidden Valley Road

Carlsbad CA 92011 elise_watson@fws.gov M-F, 8-5:30 Edited original metadata by adding ISO keywords. Reprojected data into California Teale Albers NAD83. 20080903 California Department of Fish and Game Greg Ewing bios@dfg.ca.gov Vector Entity point 3789 NAD 1983 California Teale Albers 34.0 40.5 -120.0 0.0 0.0 -4000000.0 coordinate pair 0.000000003754707655900803 0.000000003754707655900803 meter D North American 1983 GRS 1980 6378137.0 298.257222101 ds442 Mammal Track Counts - San Diego County [ds442] FID Internal feature number. ESRI Sequential unique whole numbers that are automatically generated. Shape Feature geometry. ESRI Coordinates defining the features. SNAME Species scientific name. CNAME Species common name. ACT_DATE Date transect was activated (transect site selected). DEACT_DATE Date transect was deactivated (surveys discontinued). TRACK_SIGN Type of track or sign observed. TOT_HIST Total number of historical (greater than 2 weeks old) sightings. TOT_FRESH Total number of fresh (less than 2 weeks old) sightings. TOT_SIGHT Total number of sightings (Tot_Hist + Tot_Fresh). VEG_CAT Vegetation Category. Veg95; SANDAG, www.sandag.cog.ca.us TRANSID Numerical identification of transect. SECTION Numerical identification of section within a transect. TRANSNAME Name of transect. SITE Name of reserve where transect is located. LAT_MID Latitude of section midpoint. LONG_MID Longitude of section midpoint. San Diego Tracking Team Doug Hansen Database Coordinator See access and use constraints information. 20160302 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Elise Watson GIS Analyst mailing

6010 Hidden Valley Road

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Carlsbad CA 92009 (760) 431.9440 x348 elise_watson@fws.gov FGDC Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata FGDC-STD-001-1998 local time