The Atlas of California - Suresh K. Lodha

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California has three regions, as well: Coastal Plain, Transverse Ranges, and Mojave Desert. The Transverse Ranges run east–west, cutting across the grain of the Sierras and Coast Ranges. Northern California has two subregions: Klamath and Siskiyou Mountains on the west and the volcanic landscape of the Southern Cascades to the east. Beyond the Sierra, California shares a piece of Nevada’s Basin and Range. California’s landscape is a creation of the tectonics generated by the collision of the Pacific and North American plates. In the distant past, the Pacific floor dove under the continent, pushing up the Sierra (as in today’s Cascades). Now the Pacific plate slides along the San Andreas fault system, twisting northwest and pushing upward, creating the Coast and Transverse Ranges, and periodically shaking up California’s cities. California has benefited greatly from the gifts of the land: gold, silver, and other minerals left by volcanism and uplift; oil deposits from sea beds driven far beneath the coast; and deep valley soils deposited from ancient mountains.

      California’s geography sets it apart from the rest of North America. Its natural blessings have been a source of wonder and wealth, its frequent earthquakes a challenge.

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      LAND & PEOPLE

      California occupies one of the five Mediterranean climate zones of the world (wet winters, dry summers). Heavy fog off the Pacific cools the coastal regions from Mendocino to San Diego during the summer. Far Northern California sees the most rain, akin to the Pacific Northwest. In far Southeast California lies desert: the Mojave and pieces of the Colorado and Sonoran zones. The Sierra and northern mountains enjoy heavy winter snowfalls, the southern mountains a light dusting. The state’s flora and fauna are remarkably diverse, combining species adapted to a Mediterranean regime, those tolerant of the extremes of alpine and desert climates, and remnant species from wetter and colder epochs. California has more endemic (unique) plant species than any other part of the continental US. Some, such as the sequoias and bristlecone pines, are wonders of the world. Others, such as Monterey pines and California poppies, are common in gardens and plantations worldwide. Californians have profited from cutting the forests of redwood, fir and pine growing thick along the northern coast and along the mountain ranges, and even more so from farming the broad valleys beneath the summer sun. Yet resource extraction left a legacy of ravaged landscapes and agriculture introduced a host of new species that displaced the native flora and fauna. The combination of rare beauty and rampant devastation is key to Californian’s legacy of conservation.

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      Public Lands & Parks

      Half of California’s land is in public ownership, and much of that is protected in the most extensive system of national, state, and local parks in the United States.

      Large areas of California are in public ownership, mostly federal lands administered by the US Forest Service, National Park Service and Bureau of Land Management. Public lands occupy over 47 million acres—almost half of the state’s 100 million acres. Only Alaska and Nevada have more acreage in public lands. California has more units of the National Parks system (monuments, historic sites, seashores, reserves, recreation areas) than any other state (32), covering 7.5 million acres. Yosemite and Sequoia were two of the earliest national parks, and Yosemite Valley is arguably the oldest in the country (given to the state to administer in 1864). The National Park Service (1916) was the brainchild of Stephen Mather, the first of several Californians to serve as its director. National forests began to be set aside in 1884 after most of the west had been sold into private hands. Almost 2 million acres of redwood forests were disposed of before the country woke up to the devastation of uncontrolled logging. California now has the second highest national forest area of any state: 20.7 million acres. Californians led the fight for the National Wilderness Preservation System (1964) and the state has more wilderness areas than any other, lying mostly in national forests. Desert lands were long thought of as useless, except for military purposes, but large tracts have recently been set aside in parks, such as the Mojave National Preserve. California has the largest state park system in the country: 278 units encompassing 1.4 million acres, including parks, historic sites, natural reserves, and recreation areas. Most are smaller than national parks, but they attract almost twice the number of visitors. The first historic site was marked in 1889 and the first park created in 1902, but a state parks system was not organized and financed until 1928, growing rapidly thereafter. Today, the state’s perennial budget crisis has hit the parks hard, with few new units added and many closed to regular use. California’s urban areas are packed with city, county and regional parks and open spaces, adding up to more than 1.5 million acres. Offshore, the state has thousands of square miles covered by four federal marine sanctuaries. The state has also designated over 100 state marine protected areas, and development along the 1,000-mile coastline has been tightly regulated since 1972. San Francisco Bay has been protected from further incursions since 1965 and includes five of the over 50 national wildlife refuges in the state. Californians have been leaders in national and global conservation for over a century. The movement has been inspired by the state’s magnificent landscape and by the devastation of the land by mining, logging, and urbanization. Since the days of John Muir, its momentum has never slowed, taking on new threats to the land and waters as they arose, such as large dams, ski resorts, suburban sprawl, bay fill, and coastal development. Today’s conservationists focus on climate change, energy conservation, and rethinking cities.

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      LAND & PEOPLE

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      Colonialism & Native Californians

      Native Californians arrived more than 10,000 years ago. They lived in families and clans of exceptional diversity, speaking 100 languages and 300 dialects. They prospered on the abundant wildlife, which they managed through seed collection, land-clearing fires, and fish ponds. Their numbers reached perhaps 300,000 in pre-Colonial times, the largest concentration north of the Valley of Mexico, but unlike the Iroquois they did not form nations. The Spaniards reached California in 1542, but left it alone until their empire was threatened in the late 18th century by British, French, Russian, and American expansion. The Christianizing Missions founded by Father Junipero Serra, where natives were forced to live and work, brought devastation through disease and destruction of past ways of life. Native numbers fell by one-third to one-half, especially along the coast. The Mexican era after 1821 brought new trials to people further inland and northward. Mexican rancheros exploited the natives as indentured labor, while building a trade in hides and tallow. Again, thousands of the natives perished. The Mexican–American war in 1844–46 brought California under the sway of the US, which annexed the northern half of Mexico in 1848. Following this, the Gold Rush drew in some 300,000 fortune seekers. Miners overran the last mountain redoubts of the native peoples, and many were enslaved. Nowhere were American Indians treated worse. The first governor, Peter Burnett, called for the extermination of native tribes, a task aided and abetted by state militias. California opposed Indian Reservations and federal agents were notoriously corrupt, leaving most native people landless and scattered. There are over 100 recognized tribes in California, but most bands never reclaimed lands other than tiny rancherias. The population of Native Americans fell to a low of 15,000 by 1900, then started a slow recovery, often through mixing with the conquering people. Estimates depend on the criteria for inclusion, but have increased rapidly since 1950. Before that, many did not want to identify as a disparaged people; but with the rebellions of the 1960s native heritage became a source of pride, swelling the census count. In addition, Native Californians migrated to the cities, where they were joined by tens of thousands of American Indians from around the west, forced from reservations by poverty and the federal decertification of tribes. By 1970 they were outnumbered by new migrants, and numbers were climbing fast. The urbanization and mixing of tribes gave rise to the American Indian Movement, ignited when young militants seized Alcatraz in 1969 and proclaimed it liberated territory. Today, there is a renewed pride in learning native languages, crafts, and culture. The legalization of native-run casinos, over 60 in 2011, has earned more than $7 billion. The income has been used to improve housing, restore tribal lands, and improve education, but has led to disputes over tribal membership. After 200 years of oppression, Native Americans are still struggling to preserve their identities and culture and finding it an uphill task to attain the

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