Mule deer habitat requirements and their resource management implications for Cheeseboro Canyon

Includes bibliographical references (pages 94-100)Includes digitized image(s) in TIFF format.The Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area,\ud is mandated to preserve natural resources within its\ud domain. One of the park's wildlife resources is\ud California mule deer. Among their most important habitat\ud requirements are forage, cover, and water. These basic\ud elements are found within Cheeseboro Canyon.\ud Threats to mule deer habitat in Cheeseboro Canyon\ud include livestock grazing which alters species composition\ud and decreases the amount of forage and cover.\ud Second, urban development, near the south, east and west\ud boundaries, reduces the amount of contiguous habitat.\ud Third, the number of visitors to Cheeseboro Canyon has\ud doubled in the past year and is expected to increase \ud steadily over the next decade. Heavy visitor usage can\ud interfere with deers' use of range.\ud National Park Service actions which assist in\ud habitat preservation include annual prescription burning,\ud elimination of livestock grazing, and review of development\ud proposals which may adversely affect mule deer.\ud Habitat preservation is inhibited by insufficient\ud information about Cheeseboro's deer population as well as\ud the quality and quantity of forage. Insufficient funding\ud for natural resource management programs restricts the\ud amount of research and monitoring which can be accomplished.\ud Using available operating funds, however, the\ud National Park Service can still protect resources. Those\ud actions include identification of all mule deer research\ud needs, development of a visitor education program on\ud habitat requirements, assessment of visitor impact on\ud habitat, and implementation of a private land stewardship\ud program for protecting habitat