DMEC is researching the distribution and status of every terrestrial gastropod (snails and slugs) that occur naturally in the state of California.   DMEC has developed a GIS database for all the location records for every native and naturalized terrestrial gastropod taxa known to occur in California.   The GIS database tracks which counties each taxon occurs in and was used to create county distribution maps for each gastropod.   Point locations for some taxa have also been created based on voucher specimens or Magney's personal observations.   DMEC created reports for selected counties, including Los Angeles, Ventura, Santa Barbara, and Riverside Counties.   Simple checklists have been created for other counties.

Below are copies of the reports prepared for the selected counties.

• Terrestrial Snails of Los Angeles County 29 September 2010, updated 11 October 2021 [6.9 MB PDF]
• Terrestrial Snails of Riverside County 29 September 2012 [431 KB PDF]
• Atlas of Ventura County Terrestrial Snails 17 March 2005 [5.5 MB PDF]

David Magney Environmental Consulting (DMEC) compiled a list of vascular plants known or reported to occur in Kings County, California.   This is the first checklist for the entire county.   Since no systematic surveys were conducted of the county flora, numerous additional taxa are expected to be present.  

Below is a PDF copy of the flora checklist.

• Flora of Kings County 6 December 2010 (1.5 MB PDF)

In working on a project on the Burton Mesa in western Santa Barbara County, David Magney found that the lichen flora was especially rich, with even more taxa that vascular plants.   This led to my working with Shirley Tucker, PhD, an expert lichenologist, to develop a list of the 38 lichen taxa known to occur in the Burton Mesa Chaparral.   Below is a checklist of all the lichens known from the Burton Mesa area, which includes photographs of 28 of them.

• Lichens of Burton Mesa Chaparral 30 December 2012 (3.3 MB PDF)

In working on projects and reviewing reports by others on the Palos Verdes Peninsula in southern Los Angeles County, David Magney found that the vascular plant flora was especially not well known and that the previously developed checklist by Angelika Brinkmann-Busi of the South Coast Chapter of CNPS was in need of updating; therefore, the an updated checklist was needed.   Below is a map of the peninsula and checklist of all the vascular plants known from the peninsula, with one voucher specimen cited for each taxon, if available on the Consortium of California Herbaria database.

• Checklist of Palos Verdes Peninsula Plants 10 May 2023

In working and exploring the northern parts of Ventura County, certain placesnames and sites stimulated curiosity about the history behind them.   One good example of this is the campground on Pine Mountain Ridge of northern Ventura County: Pine Mountain Lodge.   When Magney first visited this backcountry campground he found the remnants of the fireplace chimney of the Pine Mountain Lodge.   Magney had to know who built it and why.   The archives of the Ojai Ranger District, basically a bunch of files and photographs in cardboard boxes, provided a lot of great information and photographs.   Additional material was obtained from the Ventura County Historical Society and Museum.   Read about the history of Pine Mountain Lodge and the Sisquoc Rangers that built and maintained it in the late 1800s.

• Sisquoc Rangers of Pine Mountain Lodge 10 February 2006 (509 KB PDF)

This book focuses on the vascular plant flora of Dry Lakes Ridge, in central western Ventura County, California.   The ridge is entirely within the Los Padres National Forest, with the "Dry Lakes" supporting a relictual population of Ponderosa Pine (Pinus ponderosa var. ponderosa) from the Pleistocene era.   The flora contains chapters on geography, topography, geology, botanical collecting history, plant communities, and an annotated catalogue of all the vascular plants known to occur on the ridge.   The flora was published by the UCSB Herbarium.   Copies of this book can be obtained by sending a check for $20.00 (includes sales tax and shipping) to David Magney at P.O. Box 1539, Cedar Ridge, CA 94924-1539.