 * Critical Findings * Terrestrial Vertebrates Restricted to the Sierra Nevada * SNEP SIGNIFICANT AREAS INVENTORY
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* SNEP Significant Areas Inventory In addition to specific inventories of features such as old-growth forests and wildlife, SNEP mapped 945 areas of special interest on the national forests and national parks of the Sierra Nevada (figure 5.3).  Figure 5.3 (Actual View 20K) Ecologically significant areas mapped by SNEP. (From volume II, chapter 29.) These areas contain features of special ecological, cultural, or geological diversity. A feature was considered significant if it was unusually rare, diverse, or representative of natural (including cultural) diversity. The average size of the areas was 3,349 acres for ecological features, 5,804 acres for cultural features, and 9,443 acres for geological features. More than 70% of the areas were newly recognized. Although more than a third of these areas are in protected categories of land designation (wilderness, natural reserves, parks, etc.), more than half were recorded as having had past or continuing impacts from intensive human uses, including recreation and grazing. 
 
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