The State Wildlife Action Plan (SWAP) has several ways of indicating wildlife community condition in California. One is the number and distribution of threatened and endangered (T&E) species, number and distribution of endemic species, and vulnerability of species to climate change, land-use, and other threats.

Communities and neighborhoods vary in their access to green space (parks and open space). This may be because of the amount or area of parks/open space available, or because of the ability to reach the parks (e.g., based on transportation/transit availability).

Air pollution can be reduced when natural vegetation is present. Plants can absorb/adsorb pollutants from the air, including very fine particles and gases (e.g., ozone).

During an outbreak, forest insects and diseases can cause moderate to high rates of mortality (>1% of forested area) in short periods. This indicator is a comparison of mortality rates as area or volume compared to a 1% threshold. The reporting units for this indicator may include ownership, species or plant type, type of insect/disease, and by exotic/native insect/disease type. It may also be reported as a percentage of area or volume.

Forested areas may experience rapid mortality rates during an outbreak of an insect or diseases. This indicator describes risk of mortality as area of forest, or volume of trees, using a 1% mortality rate in 15 years threshold. Reporting units may include ownership, plant species or groups, type of insect/disease, and exotic /native insects/disease as a group.

Ozone is a airborne pollutant produced by industrial activity that can damage human and ecosystem health. This indicator reports on the area of forest and/or volume of trees affected by ozone. The reporting units could be ownership type, forest type, or bioregion.

This is a measure of the compensation of the average job. It is total earnings divided by total employment. Full-time and part-time jobs are counted at equal weight. Employees, sole proprietors, and active partners are included.

Birds are a sensitive and visually-obvious indicator for landscape and habitat condition. Measuring distribution of different bird species can be a measure of ecosystem health.

Carbon is sequestered/stored in plants and soil, removing it at least temporarily from the atmosphere. The rate of carbon sequestered can be estimated using satellite/remote sensing methods, or more directly measured at the plot scale in forests. When carbon emission rates exceed carbon sequestration rates, then net accumulation of carbon-containing gases in the atmosphere can result in global warming and climate change.

Climate change has already brought changes to the distribution of plant communities and individual plant species in California. It is likely that continued climate change will exacerbate this trend. This indicator refers both to observed and predicted changes in individual and plant community distributions.

Climate change is likely to have many effects on natural, fire-prone systems. Some effects include: warming that leads to faster and more prolonged drying, shorter and/or more variable wet seasons, and increased tree mortality (and thus fuel load) due to stress from drought and warming.

The number of workers that live in the selected geographic area who worked either in or outside the county they live in. The time in minutes it takes for a resident to arrive at their place of work.

In residential areas near or within forests and shrublands, structures may be destroyed or damaged by wildfires that naturally occur, or that are caused by human activity. Structures will vary in how resilient or resistant to fire they are (e.g., because of roof or siding material). The replacement or repair costs may be borne by homeowners or by insurers and represent a cost to society of having structures mixed in with vegetation where fires are likely to occur.

Wildfires can cause damage or loss of structures near or within naturally-vegetated areas. The replacement or repair cost for these structures may be borne by the homeowner, or by insurers. It represents an actual cost to society of wildfire effects on structures built in areas where wildfire occur.

Most fires that occur where structures or people are present are actively suppressed. The cost for material and personnel to suppress fires is borne by responsible local, state, or federal entities.

An increase in crime can accompany a loss of other economic opportunities in an area. One metric of crime rates is the number of crimes per a population of 100,000.

Tree canopies in urban settings can provide shade, reducing temperatures considerably. The number of days over 90 oF is one way of measuring potentially harmful heat in urban settings, which will vary with shading by tree canopy.

Parks and open space can be quite different from each other in the type, quantity, and quality of habitat they contain for wildlife and to allow natural processes to function. Parks with a lot of services and recreating people may provide fewer ecological benefits than an un-developed open space with little infrastructure.

When people recreate in natural areas, they can disturb animals not adapted to their presence (most animals). Some of these impacts have been studied and are predictable.

Protecting the diversity of California's ecosystems is likely to also protect the diversity of native fauna and flora. This depends on how much area is protected and if diversity is appropriately defined. For example, there are many kinds of vernal pool, which vary because of underlying geology and surrounding landscape. Different vernal pool types will have different assemblages of species. Therefore, just protecting "vernal pool" diversity without attention to types of vernal pools could result in loss of diversity.