Depicting California’s Critical Environmental Zones

A set of critical environmental area maps for the state of California has been prepared. These maps show regions of the state where the natural environment has been adversely affected by the consequences of economic activities, in some cases exacerbated by natural conditions. Environmental topics mapped include air pollution, pollution of inland and coastal waters, hazardous wastes, surface mining, and deterioration of forests and sensitive habitats. Initially, for clarity, mapping was done on three separate sheets, under the topic headings of water problems, habitat problems, and air and toxic pollutants. Subsequently, all of the data were combined onto a single comprehensive map. This resultant map illustrates by means of overlapping areal and point symbols the generalized locales and regions of concentrations of contemporary environmental problems in California.