detect patterns and associations. From being on the land and recognizing these patterns, what emerges is a sense of the land’s integrity. Previously, data have been collected for various purposes, yet the wholeness of the land has not been captured in earlier reports. This Plan includes data from past and recent studies.

Data Collection for Maps and Text
Approximately 70 field visits to San Marcos Foothills were conducted from May 1997 to May 2001. Most visits to the property were intended to answer a particular question, but other visits represent casual observations done in the course of recreation. Approximately 11 field efforts were organized surveys with specified routes designed to census the population of Grasshopper Sparrow or Burrowing Owl. The dates of some of these formal surveys are shown in Appendix A. Most work was done by the members of the Resource Monitoring Committee of the San Marcos Foothills Coalition with assistance from local birdwatchers. Several other people assisted in the field and they are mentioned in the Authorship and Acknowledgements section of this Plan. In the field, notes were taken and often these were related to aerial photos or maps of the property.

In Spring of 2000, a Geographic Information System (GIS) was set up to assist with the resource documentation. A small proportion of the data were entered into the GIS database, principally those records of sensitive species, breeding events, and members of the two ecological guilds. The maps were produced from these databases.

Sources of information for each GIS map are shown on the individual maps. Readers should know that only the partial products of the GIS systems are shown—those are the maps published in this report. The additional aspect of GIS is the data base which stores the detailed information regarding each event or observation shown on the map. Advanced Geographic Consulting prepared the maps under the direction of the Stewardship Plan Committee.

Outstanding deficits in the natural resource inventory pertain to small mammals, nocturnal animals, and insects. Additionally, we would resurvey for amphibians and reptiles. These comprise future goals of the Resource Monitoring Committee.

This Plan is not intended to be the final word on the preservation and management of San Marcos Foothills. It will provide a starting point for meaningful public discussion and debate about the future of the property. We hope that this Plan also will serve as a model for the stewardship of other lands near urban boundaries as other plans have been a model for us (Ferren, et al., 2000).

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