The final vegetation map for the STEP planning domain comprised of three sections:
- Thicket vegetation - 112 thicket types were identified and mapped for the STEP project by Vlok and Euston-Brown (2002). These included 34 solid thicket vegetation types, and 78 mosaic thicket vegetation types. This map covered the entire STEP planning domain, and therefore included non-thicket vegetation types, but these were very broadly defined. The 112 thicket types from this map remained unchanged in the final STEP vegetation map (with three exceptions). The broad definitions of non-thicket vegetation types were used simply as a guide for the further delineation and coding of non-thicket types in the final vegetation map.
- Non-thicket vegetation - 55 non-thicket vegetation types were defined and delineated as a desktop exercise using two sources of information.
- In the west, the Broad Habitat Units (BHUs) defined by Cowling and Heijnis (2001) for the C.A.P.E. Project were used (1:250 000 scale).
- In the east, the vegetation types compiled by Dr M. Rutherford, National Botanical Institute (NBI - preliminary map) were used at mixed scales.
- In nine areas neither the BHU or NBI vegetation map provided appropriate names for use in the STEP vegetation map and new vegetation types were assigned to these areas.
- The three water types mapped by the team remained unchanged and were incorporated directly into final STEP vegetation map.
