Coastal scrub and pines along Limantour Road

LIMANTOUR ROAD (4,142 acres) - This FMU consists of a corridor along the entire length of Limantour Road from the Limantour Beach parking area, up over Inverness Ridge, and down to the intersection of Limantour Road and Bear Valley Road. Much of the unit is within the Philip Burton Wilderness Area. For management purposes, it also includes the area encompassing the Point Reyes National Seashore headquarters buildings, the Bear Valley Visitor Center, and the Coast Miwok cultural exhibit at Kule Loklo. The southwestern portion of this FMU, from Limantour Beach to Inverness Ridge, spreads out east and west of the road to include portions of the Phillip Burton Wilderness Area. Vegetation in this area is dominated by grassland and mixed coastal scrub in the southwest, which grades into Bishop pine stands and Douglas-fir forests on Inverness Ridge. An extensive salt water and brackish marsh system occurs at the Estero de Limantour, and high quality riparian corridors are located along several northeast to southwest trending creeks (e.g., Muddy Hollow, Laguna, Coast). This section of the FMU supports six plant species of management concern, three of these are federal Species of Concern. A free-ranging herd of 28 tule elk (which are identified in special legislation as a resource the Seashore is to protect and manage) were introduced in this area in 1999. Federally-listed threatened coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutsch) and steelhead trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) occupy streams in this FMU. The section of this FMU that stretches from Inverness Ridge west to the Bear Valley area supports Douglas-fir forest, mixed conifer/hardwood forest with coast live oak, California bay, coyote brush scrub, and grasslands. There are large stands of eucalyptus near the Kule Loklo site, which are highly flammable. Northern spotted owls are known to nest in both sections of this FMU.

Vegetation Map of the Limantour Road Fire Management Unit (Low-res HTML or High-res 718 KB PDF)

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