[PCA] California & Nevada portion of the Great Basin Megatransect

[Craig Dremann]

Dear All,

I've been transcribing data from my 3,400 mile, 1997 Megatransect of the
Great Basin and Rockies, measuring the ecological conditions and native
grasses and weeds on one-mile points.

Here's a snapshot of the California and Nevada data on the West-to-East
transect:

===============================

MEGATRANSECT MILE-POINTS

CALIFORNIA, 
Native grass understory absent= 61 miles.
Exotic per. grasses/weeds intentionally sown along roadside = 2 miles.
Cities, rivers, riparian, lakes = 15 miles
Cheatgrass = 1 mile.

Native grasses present = 49 miles.
Pristine ecosystem understories = 8 miles.

TOTAL MILES of transect in California = 110.
============

NEVADA 
NATIVE GRASS UNDERSTORY ABSENT =  263 miles

---Exotic per. grasses/weeds sown along roadside = 37 miles.
(36 miles crested wheatgrass)
---Cities, canyons, playas, ag land, rivers, riparian, mines = 54 miles.
---Cheatgrass = 10 miles.
---Tumbleweeds = 1 miles.

NATIVE GRASS UNDERSTORY PRESENT = 137 miles

---Great Basin Wild Rye = 13 miles (rare overall and is also rare
whenever present, and perhaps should be listed under ESA as Endangered)
---Hilaria = 1 mile (very rare, perhaps should be listed under ESA as
Endangered)
---Oryzopsis = 82 miles (most common grass in transect through Nevada)
---Sitanion/Squirreltail = 3 mile (very rare, perhaps should be listed
under ESA as Threatened)
---Stipas (comata and thurberiana) rare = 26 miles

Pristine ecosystem understories = 25 miles

TOTAL MILES in Nevada, for West-to-East data = 400 miles
==================

There's a nice set of paired photos from Nevada, originally taken when
Stanford was building his portion of the Transcontinental railroad in
1869, and then the same spot was rephotgraphed in the 1990's.  

The two pictures at http://cpran.com/ show the changes in the Great
Basin in the last 150 years, from a perennial grassland/shrubland (about
80% grass cover/20% shrub at best, to perhaps 50/50), to today's 80-100%
shrubland, with the former common and widespread native perennial
grasses, in 2006 on the verge of extinction.

Sincerely,  Craig Dremann, Redwood City, CA (650) 325-7333