Field Protocols &
Guidelines

Working together
CNPS plant science guidelines come from decades of collective experience. CNPS staff, collaborators, and volunteers have all played an important role in helping us refine and present best-practice approaches to field surveys, sampling, mapping, and mitigation. We’re thankful to all who’ve contributed to this information and encourage anyone using these resources to share suggestions, ideas, and questions. Get in touch with us anytime at cnps@cnps.org.
CNPS Guidelines
Mapping

Mapping Sensitive Natural Communities
Created by the CNPS Vegetation Program to support the development and standardization of sensitive natural community mapping in CA.
Mapping Sensitive Natural Communities
CDFW Classification Mapping
Created by the CDFW Vegetation Program to support the development and standardization of rare plant community mapping in CA.
CDFW Classification Mapping
Alliance Level Mapping
A downloadable, blank geodatabase from California Dept. of Fish and Wildlife’s VegCAMP
Alliance Level Mapping
Rare plants

Botanical Surveys
CNPS recommends that lead agencies not accept the results of surveys unless they are conducted and reported according to these guidelines.
CNPS Botanical Surveys
CDFW Survey Protocols
Field Survey Form
CNPS accepts data on rare plants in a number of formats. If conducting surveys as part of a Rare Plant Treasure Hunt, we prefer use of the RPTH form, otherwise please use the CNDDB form.
RPTH Field Survey Form
CNDDB Field Survey Form
Rare Plant Treasure Hunt
Instructions for participating citizen scientists, created by the California Native Plant Society.
Rare Plant Treasure Hunt
Vegetation rapid assessment and relevé protocols
Over time, the field methods used to collect vegetation data have been modified to reflect our changing knowledge of the systems involved. The links below provide the most recent sampling protocol and data forms used by the Vegetation Program.
- CNPS Combined Vegetation Rapid Assessment and Releve Protocol (2022)
- CNPS Combined Vegetation Rapid Assessment and Releve Field Form (2022)
- CNPS Vegetation Rapid Assessment Protocol (02/21/07, includes Desert CWHR)
- CNPS Vegetation Rapid Assessment Field Form (02/21/07, includes Desert CWHR)
- CNPS Relevé Protocol (8/23/07)
- CNPS Relevé Field Form (8/23/07)
- Percent Cover Diagrams from two sources
Please note: If you are using these forms in the field, the CNPS Vegetation Program would greatly appreciate if you can send us copies of your completed forms. We’ll enter the data into our rapid assessment database, archive the information, and use it for future classification analyses. If requested, we can send you a hard copy database report summarizing the data you’ve provided.
Please send photocopies/scanned copies via post, email or fax to:
Julie Evens, Vegetation Program Director
2707 K Street, Suite 1
Sacramento, CA 95816
E-mail: jevens@cnps.org
Fax: (916) 324-0475