Introduction
to Baja California Coastal Wetlands Inventory
The Baja California Coastal Wetlands Inventory (the inventory) is a database of existing information on ecological conditions, land use, land ownership, and hydrology for all the major coastal wetlands on the west coast of Baja California from the U.S. border to San Ignacio Lagoon. The format closely follows the Southern California Coastal Wetlands Inventory http://ceres.ca.gov/wetlands/geo_info/so_cal.html.
The inventory provides three types of information for each site: 1) a map of recent habitats distribution; 2) a historical map, a satellite image, and panoramic views for each wetland; and 3) a "wetlands profile" which briefly describes ecological conditions (including comprehensive species lists), land use, land ownership, and management perspectives. The inventory also includes maps of land use and land ownership as available, and an annotated list of sources. Four wetlands (Estero de Punta Banda, Bocana de Santo Domingo, Laguna Figueroa, and Bahia San Quintin) are already posted on the World Wide Web http://www.cicese.mx/~proester/inv/ and will be linked to the CERES web site when the inventory of the 10 sites is finished. Pro Esteros is also making the resulting computer files available to scientists, graduate students, and planners in the region. All of the information in the inventory, both mapped and written, is derived from data that were generated previously. The inventory is the first attempt to develop a database of its kind, for Baja California coastal wetlands, compiling data from the literature and maps of recent and historic habitat distribution.
The purposes of the inventory are: 1) to enable a regional (bi-national) perspective on the management and conservation of coastal wetlands resources and habitats; 2) to provide Mexican governmental agencies responsible for coastal zone development, with a powerful and sound management tool to evaluate any development project in coastal wetlands; 3) to gather critical information on sensitive wildlife and distribution and extension of wetlands habitats, for cross-border management and planning issues; 4) to provide materials for educators (secondary schools, college, and teacher training); and 5) to allow environmental decisions to be made using the same criteria and classifications in all the wetlands from Santa Barbara to the Vizcaino wetlands.
The inventory provides basic description of wetlands in the entire area and emphasizes breadth rather than depth. It also constitutes a foundation upon which new and other types of data can be added.
The inventory is being prepared by Pro Esteros with the support of CICESE (Centro de Investigación Científica y de Educación Superior de Ensenada, B.C.), DUMAC, Ducks Unlimited, Coastal Conservancy, PERL (Pacific Estuarine Research Lab), California Coastal Commission’s Southern California Coastal Wetlands Inventory, SAHOPE (Secretaria de Asentamientos Humanos y Obras Públicas del Estado), the City of Ensenada (Municipal Government), and El Vizcaino Biosphere Reserve with funding from The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. Overall guidance for the project is coming from different individuals from the above agencies and organizations, and from UABC (Universidad Autónoma de Baja California) and Pronatura, A.C. (Pronatura Península de Baja California).
Historic Maps
For each site in the inventory there is a historic map that was scanned from the earliest available "hard copy" or paper map. The purpose of including these maps is to roughly document historical wetland perimeter, although habitat extension accuracy and source quality are variable.
Habitat maps
For each wetland there is also a map depicting the different habitats, based mostly on vegetative communities but also type of soil. Their purpose is to provide general indications of the location, extent and habitats within Baja California wetlands. The base maps that form the core of the information used in this project were generated in 1995 under the leadership of DUMAC and Pro Esteros in a former project. Only the habitat map of Estero de Punta Banda was composed using more recent and higher resolution digital data available from aerial photography. The habitats were classified following the classification used by Ducks Unlimited and consistent with the classification used by the California Coastal Commission’s Southern California Coastal Wetlands Inventory. The maps are not meant to constitute wetland delineation of jurisdictional boundaries.
Wetland Profiles
The profiles are compilations of the most recent and comprehensive studies documenting physical and biological conditions of each wetland and their adjacent area. Presented in tabular form they highlight hydrology, vegetative communities, animal use, species of concern, ownership, onsite and adjacent land use, and the history of enhancement efforts. Each profile also includes species lists of flora and fauna and an annotated list of sources. Their purpose is to provide an overview of ecological conditions at all of the sites rather than in depth, detailed analyses. The information base from which the profiles were derived represents a diversity of dates, scope, level of detail and purposes for its generation. In many cases the sources cited provide the inly information available, in others, the most recent and/or comprehensive documents were selected from a number of studies.
Using the Inventory
The inventory’s primary function is a planning and educational tool. It brings together and summarizes a substantial amount of information which may also be of use to other sorts of analysis. For example, the inventory can tell you about recent conditions at each site - one has recently supported nesting light-footed clapper rails and least terns; in another, structural and ecological modifications have been introduced, or permanent structures have been built across the site; invasive exotics are among the dominant species here. You can also learn about the availability or lack of information about each area - few sites may have data on hydrology, water quality, plant and animal species that were collected in the same year; sources for some sites compare data from several years of consistent sampling; others report on a single survey, the only data collected in the last ten years. You can also ask basic questions about every site and get a sense of how things look from a regional perspective. How many of the sites have some sort of industry in the adjacent area? how many sites have recently supported nesting endangered birds? endangered plants? how many are surrounded by development?
The dynamic nature of the characteristics of the inventory and the wetland themselves imposes limitations on its uses. The source materials represent a wide range of dates, scopes and purposes. The brevity of the wetland profiles allows for a mere glimpse of the system as a whole. In addition, while the inventory was and is being reviewed for completeness and accuracy by wetland scientists and resources managers, no independent evaluation of the sources used in the profiles was undertaken. It is important to state that: 1) the information in the inventory is of insufficient resolution to serve as the sole basis for regulatory decisions and is not intended for such use: and 2) the information in the inventory is not meant to provide in-depth, definitive portrayals of the sites’ current or potential condition or significance.
