CALIFORNIA NATIVE AND SPECIAL STATUS PLANTS PROGRAM

Climatic differences and varying geology and soils across California create great variance in vegetation types throughout the state. Coast Redwood forest is the dominate vegetation type in the cool wet climate of the far northwestern corner while sagebrush and juniper cover the east. Chaparral and blue oak woodlands canvas the central part of the state and Joshua Tree woodland and creosote bush scrubland dominate in hot and very dry southern California. Wetlands, vernal pools, and lush riparian systems are also scattered throughout BLM California. Approximately one-quarter of the plants in California are endemic, meaning they don’t occur anywhere else in the world.

BLM in California manages 227 Areas of Critical Environmental Concern (ACECs), several Research Natural Areas, and 13 Level III Ecoregions: 

Central California Foothills and Coastal Mountains
Southern California/Northern Baja Coast
Cascades
Central Basin and Range
Central California Valley
Coast Range
Eastern Cascades Slopes and Foothills
Klamath Mountains/California High North Coast Range
Mojave Basin and Range
Northern Basin and Range
Sierra Nevada, Sonoran Basin and Range
Southern California Mountains

There are 447 Special Status Plants that are known to occur on BLM lands in California, 47 are federally listed.

In central California, north-south slope wildflower differences on Monocline Ridge in the Monvero Dunes ACEC are being studied by the BLM as a model for the potential effects of changing climate on plant communities of the San Joaquin Desert. Sand dunes on the tops of the hills have Mojave Desert plants like sandgrass and wild rhubarb (top photo). Typical San Joaquin Desert wildflowers, such as common monolopia and common phacelia are found on the cooler and moister north slopes (middle photo), while patches of Mojave Desert wildflowers, such as Mojave sand verbena, desert candle, and desert lantern are found on the hotter and drier south slopes (bottom photo).