We will spend 12 days at each of the 20 camp sites surveying for birds (with a team of two ornithologists) and 12 days at each site surveying for mammals and herpetofauna (with a team of three mammalogists/herpetologists). Grinnell, Swarth, Taylor, and Richardson spent a total of 184 team-days in the field in 1908. For the bird surveys, our schedule entails 180 days in the spring and summer (thus closely paralleling the 1908 expedition) plus 60 days in the winter. The bird surveys will be distributed in four three-day visits to each site: one in winter and three in spring or summer, as appropriate for the elevation of the site. For example, in the low desert the surveys might take place in March, April, and May, whereas at the higher elevations of the San Jacinto Mountains they might take place in June, July, and August. Each site will be visited once in the spring or summer each year from 2008 to 2010. Half of the sites will be visited in winter 2008–09, the other half in winter 2009–10. Thus the field work will be completed in summer 2010.

The mammal surveys will be distributed in three five-day visits to each site: one in winter and two in spring or summer, as appropriate for the elevation of the site. Two-thirds of the sites will be visited in spring or summer each year from 2008 to 2010. Half of the sites will be visited in winter 2008–09, the other half in winter 2009–10, as for birds. The reason for the difference in the schedules is that for birds it is more important to spread the effort through the season, while for trapping mammals it is more important to trap on four consecutive nights. It is not necessary that the bird and mammal surveys coincide with each other.