Carrizo Plain
Encyclopedia
The Carrizo Plain is a large enclosed plain, approximately 50 miles (80 km) long and up to 15 miles (24 km) across, in southeastern San Luis Obispo County, California
, about 100 miles (160 km) northwest of Los Angeles
, California
. It contains the 250,000 acre (1,012 km²; 101,215 ha) Carrizo Plain National Monument, and it is the largest single native grassland
remaining in California. It includes Painted Rock in the Carrizo Plain Rock Art Discontiguous District, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places
. It is one of the easiest places to view surface fractures of the San Andreas Fault
which traverses below the plain.
, following the San Andreas Fault. Bordering the plain to the northeast is the Temblor Range
, on the other side of which is the California Central Valley
. Bordering the plain to the southwest is the Caliente Range
. The community of California Valley
is on the northern part of the plain. The average elevation of the plain is about 2,200 ft (700 m). Soda Lake
, a 3000 acres (12.1 km²) alkaline lake
, is in the center of the plain with the popular Painted Rock
containing Chumash and Yokut rock art nearby. As the central depression in an enclosed basin, Soda Lake receives all of the runoff from both sides of the plain. At 5,106 ft (1,556 m), Caliente Mountain
, southwest of the plain, stands as the highest point in San Luis Obispo County. The climate type of the Carrizo Plain is semi-arid grassland. No trees grow there and the annual rainfall is around 9 inches (228.6 mm) per year. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1216/is_n5_v183/ai_8065895/
The Carrizo Plain is one of the easiest places to see surface fractures of the San Andreas Fault; they are clearly visible along the eastern side of the plain, at the foot of the Temblor Range. They are best seen in early morning and evening light, when shadows enhance the topography. In addition to its spring wildflower displays, Carrizo Plain is famous for Painted Rock
, a sandstone
alcove adorned with pictographs created by the Chumash people around 2000 BC.
Wallace Creek is a small stream draining into Soda Lake that remains dry most of the year. It drains perpendicular to the San Andreas Fault and the creek bed is currently offset by 425 ft (129.5 m) due to the movement of the fault. About 23 ft (7 m) of the displacement was created during the 1857 earthquake. The current segment began forming 3,700 years ago.
Two other older creek beds lie 1560 and 1310 ft (475.5 and 399.3 m) northwest along the San Andreas Fault. The first creek bed was created around 13,000 years ago when climate change formed the creek on a large active alluvial fan. The second bed was created about 11,000 years ago.
The creek is heavily studied by geologists to find a correlation between the offset and historical events, such as earthquakes, that have occurred along the San Andreas Fault. Although Wallace Creek is not the only creek that has been offset by the San Andreas Fault, it is the most spectacular.
State Route 166 passes the south entrance to the Carrizo Plain, and State Route 58 crosses through the northern portion. Connecting them is the narrow Soda Lake Road, the only dependably passable road through the plain—but even this may become impassable when it rains since the middle portion of it is gravel.
KCL is located in the southern part of the monument, west and very close to Soda Lake Road. Access from the main road is easy, and the camping area is generally bounded by a wooden fence. The campground has eight picnic tables and firepits, and is frequently occupied by "Day Use" visitors, although overnight camping is also allowed. Trees about the campground provide shade - some of the only shade in the Monument's valley. As this site was previously owned by the Kern County Land Company, there are several outbuildings in a non-maintained state. The corrals may be used by visitors to stable their horses.
Selby is located more to the north and more distant from Soda Lake Road. A good gravel road leads to the campground from Soda Lake Road over a distance of five miles. The road is generally usable in all weather conditions, but does wind and have some moderate grades as you approach the campground area. Here the site is much more rugged, located on a man-made cut into the natural terrain, bounded by hills and canyons. Camp tables are covered by shade structures, a permanent and sturdy toilet outhouse is available (no water), camping is allowed anywhere upon the large flat areas. Hiking up and into the adjoining Wilderness Study Area provides hearty exercise and magnificent views. The nearby Selby Rocks formation offers a fascinating view of large granite boulders. (It is requested that you NOT climb the rocks as the loose granite surface is fragile.) A recent addition is a water spigot that provides non-potable water to the campsites.
. It is a right lateral fault which runs along the northeast of the Plain, at the base of the Elkhorn Scarp, and forms the boundary between the Pacific
and North American Plate
s. Although the fault runs through California all the way from Cape Mendocino
to just south of Los Angeles
, the Carrizo plain remains one of the best places to study it. The section of fault line in the Carrizo plain is the oldest section of the San Andreas Fault and displays the largest accumulated offset of the post-early Miocene
. Its motion has shaped the broad geomorphic features of the valley, creating the ridges and ravines and altering the paths of several creeks; decapitating some altogether.
on the Western boundary of the Carrizo plains.
The parent materials for soil
s in the Carrizo plains are predominantly alluvium
deposits. Alluvium is soil that has been deposited by rivers or flowing water. The Paso Robles formation is a Pleistocene aged alluvium deposit that reaches up to 3000 ft (914.4 m) thick near the San Andreas fault and thins out towards the north and west. The Paso Robles formation is a well known aquifer
that has been reliably productive for ground wells
throughout the area. The upper layers of soil are more recent alluvium. This recent layer is thickest near Soda Lake
and thins out towards the mountains to the east and west. Throughout the valley the soil composition varies greatly and includes clay
loam
s, silt
y clay loams, loams, sand
y loams, and gravel
y loams. The sandier soils tend to reside near the slopes of the valley and provide greater drainage while the soils with more clay are located on the valley floor near Soda Lake, and have much poorer drainage. The soils in the Carrizo plains have very low fertility because of their high alkalinity
content and low rainfall due to the semi-arid climate.
The Carrizo Plains is home to 13 different species listed as endangered either by the state or federal government, the largest concentration of endangered species in California. Some of these species include the San Joaquin Kit Fox
, the San Joaquin Antelope Squirrel
, the Blunt-nosed Leopard Lizard, the Giant Kangaroo Rat
, greater and lesser Sandhill Cranes, and the California condor
. The Tule Elk
, Pronghorn
, Black-tailed Jackrabbit, Western Coyotes, and Le Conte’s Thrasher all also make their homes in the Carrizo plains. The hotter climate
and ecology
of Carrizo plains allows the Le Conte's Thrasher
of the Southwestern United States
to have a small disjunct range farther north than normal.
In 1988, U.S. Bureau of Land Management, the California Department of Fish and Game
, and the Nature Conservancy partnered together to purchase an 82000 acres (331.8 km²) parcel of Carrizo Plain land. This joint effort ensured the protection of this unique and beautiful California plain. Then in 1996, the Carrizo Plain Management Partners again created a joint initiative called the Carrizo Plain Natural Area (CPNA) Plan. The goal of this plan was to
On January 12, 2001, President Bill Clinton
signed a Presidential proclamation establishing the Carrizo Plain as a national monument. The first monument manager of the new Carrizo Plain National Monument was Marlene Braun (1958–2005); she was succeeded by Johna Hurl. The managerial partners of the CPNA took the responsibility of maintaining this new national monument. Since then, the area of protected land has increased to 250000 acres (1,011.7 km²).
, Santa Barbara
, and San Luis Obispo
counties to help share in the support and funding of its fire suppression program. Funding for other programs within Carrizo Plain National Monument come from its management partners.
When the CPNA Plan was implemented in the late 1990s, one of its first assignments was to gather information on the area’s biological, cultural, recreational, and physical resources. The information obtained by the management partners has helped to ensure that each decision made on behalf of the Carrizo Plain National Monument will benefit all of its resources. This research has also help to manage different activities and events within the plain. For example, plant community restoration
seems to be one tool that could benefit the entire region by promoting native species diversity, re-establishing natural biological processes
, and protecting endangered species
habitats.
grasses by selective cattle grazing early in the season when non-native grasses emerge. Later in the season, the management team removes the cattle, giving native plants a competitive advantage versus the non-native vegetation. The use of grazing on the Carrizo Plain National Monument remains a controversial practice.
and Morales Canyon Oil fields on the other side of the Caliente Range have been unsuccessful for the past 10 years; however experts believe that “a single potential new field with reserves between 2 and 5 million barrels of oil could be developed with 25 to 30 wells” as estimated by Caliente RMP.
There are also an abundant amount of minerals in the Carrizo Plain National Monument. Gypsum
, a white mineral used in plasters and wallboards, is a plentiful resource in the plain found in shallow, low-grade areas. In addition, there are detectable amounts of uranium
and phosphates. All of these minerals are of low-grade quality, making them unprofitable to reclaim and manufacture.
considered the Carrizo Plain as a nominee for World Heritage Site
status. Only two other locations in California
—Redwood National Park and Yosemite National Park
—have received this status. This idea was greatly opposed by The Independent Petroleum Association and the residents of the nearby city of Taft
, while supporters of nomination included the City of San Luis Obispo, the San Luis Obispo Chamber of Commerce
, and the San Luis Obispo Chapter of the League of Women Voters
.
Advantages of World Heritage Site status for the Carrizo Plain might have included increased tourism for the plain and for surrounding areas, as well as increased ability to attract private and public funding for habitat conservation
, sustainable tourism
, and increased management support. However, opponents of the nomination were concerned that World Heritage Site status would create problems for oil production, grazing rights, off-road recreation
, and private property
rights. One point of controversy was a buffer zone around the monument; opponents expected this would adversely affect nearby oil drilling sites. Some local residents were also fearful of the international organizations that would monitor and report on the monument's adherence to World Heritage treaty obligations, because maintenance of World Heritage status would depend on compliance with the 1972 Convention Concerning the Protection of World Cultural and Natural Heritage, ratified by the United States. The idea was widespread that the United States would lose sovereignty
over the area.
The Wilderness Society eventually decided not to nominate the Carrizo Plain National Monument as a World Heritage Site, as nominations are successful only if they have almost unanimous support.
, and in the northeast part of the Temblors, abutting the giant McKittrick
and Cymric
fields. As the Plain is adjacent to the super-giant oil fields of Kern County – the Midway-Sunset Oil Field
, third largest in the United States, is on the other side of the Temblor Range – the Carrizo Plain has long been considered to have at least a moderate potential for oil development. However, as it is separated from the major oil fields by the San Andreas Fault
, and the underlying source rock
, the Monterey Formation
appears not to have been buried at the right conditions of temperature and pressure, and as the stratigraphy has not favored petroleum entrapment, accumulations of oil in economically recoverable quantities have not been found. Currently, Vintage Production, a subsidiary of Occidental Petroleum
, owns the mineral rights to 30,000 of the monument's 250000 acres (1,011.7 km²). When oil prices spiked in 2007, Vintage notified the U.S. Bureau of Land Management of its intentions to find out if oil is contained in the Carrizo Plain. The mineral rights owned by Vintage pre-exist the monument's creation by President Bill Clinton
in 2001.
industry from 1983 to 1994. This was by far the largest photovoltaic array in the world, with 100,000 1'x 4' photovoltaic arrays producing 5.2 megawatts at its peak. The plant was originally constructed by the Atlantic Richfield oil company (ARCO
) in 1983. During the 1979 energy crisis
ARCO became a solar energy pioneer, manufacturing the photovoltaic arrays themselves. ARCO first built a 1 megawatt pilot operation, the Lugo plant in Hesperia, California, which is also now closed. The Carrizo Solar Corporation, based in Albuquerque, New Mexico, bought the two facilities from ARCO in 1990, but the price of oil never rose as was predicted, so the solar plant never became competitive with fossil fuel-based energy production. Carrizo Solar sold its electricity to the local utility for between three and four cents a kilowatt-hour, while a minimum price of eight to ten cents a kilowatt-hour would have been necessary in order for Carrizo to make a profit. Another photovoltaic facility was planned for the site by the Chatsworth Utility Power Group; with an output of 100 megawatts, it would have been many times larger than the existing facility, but the facility never got off the drawing board. The Carrizo Solar Company dismantled its 177 acre (0.71629422 km²) facility in the late 1990s, and the used solar panels are still being resold throughout the world.
In October 2007, the Palo Alto
company Ausra
, doing business as Carrizo Energy, filed an application for a 177 MW (peak) Carrizo Energy Solar Farm (CESF) on 640 acres (2.6 km²) adjacent to the previous ARCO site. Instead of photovoltaic cells (as used by ARCO), however, Ausra will use Fresnel mirrors that concentrate solar energy onto pipes in a receiver elevated above the ground. The concentrated solar energy boils water within a row of specially coated stainless steel pipes in an insulated cavity to produce saturated steam. The steam produced in the receivers is collected in a series of pipes, routed to steam drums, and then to the two turbine generators. Steam used by the steam turbines is condensed into liquid water and then returned to the solar field. Electricity from the steam generators will be used in San Luis Obispo county. Local opposition to some solar farm proposals centers on concerns about height above grade, noise and heat plume.
The solar field will operate daily from sunrise to sunset. Typical operating hours for the CESF will be approximately 13 hours per day, or an average of 4,765 hours per year.
On August 14, 2008, Pacific Gas and Electric Company
announced agreements to buy the power from two proposed photovoltaic plants in the Carrizo Plain, Topaz Solar Farm
and High Plains Ranch, with a combined peak power of 800 MW. If built, these will be the largest photovoltaic plants in the world.
. The internal dispute in the Bureau of Land Management
created national headlines when Marlene Braun, the first Monument Manager of the CPNM, committed suicide in 2005. An investigative article by Los Angeles Times
reporters Julie Cart and Maria LaGanga revealed that Braun discussed grazing extensively in correspondence just before her suicide.The proclamation for the Carrizo Plain National Monument addressed grazing, but its language is similar to that found in most similar proclamations. The proclamation directed BLM to manage grazing in accordance with existing laws and regulations. Braun chose to allow Taylor Grazing Act
allotments to expire and replaced them with free use permits. This action was opposed both by many ranchers and Braun's field office supervisor, Ron Huntsinger. Her practice, which would allow BLM to set stocking rates each season as opposed to guaranteeing stocking rates for ten year periods, was contrary to the desires of the Department of Interior
of President George W. Bush
. Bakersfield District Office Manager Ron Huntsinger was brought in to oversee a continuation of the Taylor Grazing Act permit system. Braun and Huntsinger clashed repeatedly and Braun faced the prospect of stiff penalties for insubordination
at the time of her death. The LA Times, in a follow-up article by Julie Cart, said, “What began as a policy dispute – to graze or not to graze livestock on the fragile Carrizo grasslands – became a morass of environmental politics and office feuding that Braun was convinced threatened both her future and the landscape she loved.” The monument manager's suicide brought "into stark focus the difficulty BLM managers had in trying to balance the demands of providing protection in accordance with the proclamations and balancing the multiple use mandate of FLPMA."
San Luis Obispo County, California
San Luis Obispo County is a county located along the Pacific Ocean in the Central Coast of the U.S. state of California, between Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area. As of the 2010 census its population was 269,637, up from 246,681 at the 2000 census...
, about 100 miles (160 km) northwest of Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. It contains the 250,000 acre (1,012 km²; 101,215 ha) Carrizo Plain National Monument, and it is the largest single native grassland
Grassland
Grasslands are areas where the vegetation is dominated by grasses and other herbaceous plants . However, sedge and rush families can also be found. Grasslands occur naturally on all continents except Antarctica...
remaining in California. It includes Painted Rock in the Carrizo Plain Rock Art Discontiguous District, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
. It is one of the easiest places to view surface fractures of the San Andreas Fault
San Andreas Fault
The San Andreas Fault is a continental strike-slip fault that runs a length of roughly through California in the United States. The fault's motion is right-lateral strike-slip...
which traverses below the plain.
Geography
The plain extends northwest from the town of MaricopaMaricopa, California
Maricopa is a city in Kern County, California, United States. Maricopa is located south-southeast of Taft, at an elevation of 883 feet . The population was 1,154 at the 2010 census, up from 1,111 at the 2000 census. Maricopa lies at the junction of Route 166 and Route 33...
, following the San Andreas Fault. Bordering the plain to the northeast is the Temblor Range
Temblor Range
The Temblor Range is a mountain range within the California Coast Ranges, at the southwestern extremity of the San Joaquin Valley in California in the United States. It runs in a northwest-southeasterly direction along the borders of Kern County and San Luis Obispo County. The name of the range is...
, on the other side of which is the California Central Valley
California Central Valley
California's Central Valley is a large, flat valley that dominates the central portion of California. It is home to California's most productive agricultural efforts. The valley stretches approximately from northwest to southeast inland and parallel to the Pacific Ocean coast. Its northern half is...
. Bordering the plain to the southwest is the Caliente Range
Caliente Range
The Caliente Range is a west-east trending zone of uplift mountains in the Pacific Coast Ranges, in central California. They are home to 5106 foot Caliente Mountain, the highest peak in San Luis Obispo County, California.-Geologic setting:...
. The community of California Valley
California Valley, California
California Valley is an unincorporated community located in the eastern part of San Luis Obispo County, California, in the northern portion of the Carrizo Plain.Located...
is on the northern part of the plain. The average elevation of the plain is about 2,200 ft (700 m). Soda Lake
Soda Lake (San Luis Obispo County)
Soda Lake is a shallow, ephemeral, alkali endorheic lake in the Carrizo Plain in southeastern San Luis Obispo County, California. The lake is located on the southwest side of the northern Carrizo Plain, 103 km east of San Luis Obispo. It can be reached by Soda Lake Road, which runs...
, a 3000 acres (12.1 km²) alkaline lake
Lake
A lake is a body of relatively still fresh or salt water of considerable size, localized in a basin, that is surrounded by land. Lakes are inland and not part of the ocean and therefore are distinct from lagoons, and are larger and deeper than ponds. Lakes can be contrasted with rivers or streams,...
, is in the center of the plain with the popular Painted Rock
Painted Rock
Painted Rock is a smooth horseshoe-shaped marine sandstone rock formation with pictograph rock art about 250 feet across and 45 feet tall near Soda Lake within the Carrizo Plain National Monument on the southwest side of the northern Carrizo Plain, west of Bakersfield, California and about east...
containing Chumash and Yokut rock art nearby. As the central depression in an enclosed basin, Soda Lake receives all of the runoff from both sides of the plain. At 5,106 ft (1,556 m), Caliente Mountain
Caliente Mountain
Caliente Mountain is a mountain located in the Southern Coast Ranges of California. The summit, at , is the highest point in San Luis Obispo County and the Caliente Range. The mountain receives a little snowfall during the winter mounths....
, southwest of the plain, stands as the highest point in San Luis Obispo County. The climate type of the Carrizo Plain is semi-arid grassland. No trees grow there and the annual rainfall is around 9 inches (228.6 mm) per year. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1216/is_n5_v183/ai_8065895/
The Carrizo Plain is one of the easiest places to see surface fractures of the San Andreas Fault; they are clearly visible along the eastern side of the plain, at the foot of the Temblor Range. They are best seen in early morning and evening light, when shadows enhance the topography. In addition to its spring wildflower displays, Carrizo Plain is famous for Painted Rock
Painted Rock
Painted Rock is a smooth horseshoe-shaped marine sandstone rock formation with pictograph rock art about 250 feet across and 45 feet tall near Soda Lake within the Carrizo Plain National Monument on the southwest side of the northern Carrizo Plain, west of Bakersfield, California and about east...
, a sandstone
Sandstone
Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...
alcove adorned with pictographs created by the Chumash people around 2000 BC.
Wallace Creek
Two other older creek beds lie 1560 and 1310 ft (475.5 and 399.3 m) northwest along the San Andreas Fault. The first creek bed was created around 13,000 years ago when climate change formed the creek on a large active alluvial fan. The second bed was created about 11,000 years ago.
The creek is heavily studied by geologists to find a correlation between the offset and historical events, such as earthquakes, that have occurred along the San Andreas Fault. Although Wallace Creek is not the only creek that has been offset by the San Andreas Fault, it is the most spectacular.
Access
Campgrounds
Camping within Carrizo Plain National Monument is available at two primitive campgrounds - KCL Campground and Selby Campground. These two sites differ markedly.KCL is located in the southern part of the monument, west and very close to Soda Lake Road. Access from the main road is easy, and the camping area is generally bounded by a wooden fence. The campground has eight picnic tables and firepits, and is frequently occupied by "Day Use" visitors, although overnight camping is also allowed. Trees about the campground provide shade - some of the only shade in the Monument's valley. As this site was previously owned by the Kern County Land Company, there are several outbuildings in a non-maintained state. The corrals may be used by visitors to stable their horses.
Selby is located more to the north and more distant from Soda Lake Road. A good gravel road leads to the campground from Soda Lake Road over a distance of five miles. The road is generally usable in all weather conditions, but does wind and have some moderate grades as you approach the campground area. Here the site is much more rugged, located on a man-made cut into the natural terrain, bounded by hills and canyons. Camp tables are covered by shade structures, a permanent and sturdy toilet outhouse is available (no water), camping is allowed anywhere upon the large flat areas. Hiking up and into the adjoining Wilderness Study Area provides hearty exercise and magnificent views. The nearby Selby Rocks formation offers a fascinating view of large granite boulders. (It is requested that you NOT climb the rocks as the loose granite surface is fragile.) A recent addition is a water spigot that provides non-potable water to the campsites.
Primitive camping
Car camping is also an option within certain areas within the monument, primarily in the foothills. Camping is not allowed in the main valley floor. See the CPNM Visitor Resource Map.San Andreas Fault
The most prevalent geologic feature of the Carrizo plains is the San Andreas FaultSan Andreas Fault
The San Andreas Fault is a continental strike-slip fault that runs a length of roughly through California in the United States. The fault's motion is right-lateral strike-slip...
. It is a right lateral fault which runs along the northeast of the Plain, at the base of the Elkhorn Scarp, and forms the boundary between the Pacific
Pacific Plate
The Pacific Plate is an oceanic tectonic plate that lies beneath the Pacific Ocean. At 103 million square kilometres, it is the largest tectonic plate....
and North American Plate
North American Plate
The North American Plate is a tectonic plate covering most of North America, Greenland, Cuba, Bahamas, and parts of Siberia, Japan and Iceland. It extends eastward to the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and westward to the Chersky Range in eastern Siberia. The plate includes both continental and oceanic crust...
s. Although the fault runs through California all the way from Cape Mendocino
Cape Mendocino
Cape Mendocino located on the Lost Coast entirely within Humboldt County, California, USA, is the westernmost point on the coast of California. It has been a landmark since the 16th century when the Manila Galleons would reach the coast here following the prevailing westerlies all the way across...
to just south of Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, the Carrizo plain remains one of the best places to study it. The section of fault line in the Carrizo plain is the oldest section of the San Andreas Fault and displays the largest accumulated offset of the post-early Miocene
Miocene
The Miocene is a geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about . The Miocene was named by Sir Charles Lyell. Its name comes from the Greek words and and means "less recent" because it has 18% fewer modern sea invertebrates than the Pliocene. The Miocene follows the Oligocene...
. Its motion has shaped the broad geomorphic features of the valley, creating the ridges and ravines and altering the paths of several creeks; decapitating some altogether.
Other faults
The Big Spring Fault, the San Juan Fault, the Morales Fault, and the White Rock Fault are small faults that run parallel to the San Andreas Fault along the Caliente RangeCaliente Range
The Caliente Range is a west-east trending zone of uplift mountains in the Pacific Coast Ranges, in central California. They are home to 5106 foot Caliente Mountain, the highest peak in San Luis Obispo County, California.-Geologic setting:...
on the Western boundary of the Carrizo plains.
Soil taxonomy
Soil
Soil is a natural body consisting of layers of mineral constituents of variable thicknesses, which differ from the parent materials in their morphological, physical, chemical, and mineralogical characteristics...
s in the Carrizo plains are predominantly alluvium
Alluvium
Alluvium is loose, unconsolidated soil or sediments, eroded, deposited, and reshaped by water in some form in a non-marine setting. Alluvium is typically made up of a variety of materials, including fine particles of silt and clay and larger particles of sand and gravel...
deposits. Alluvium is soil that has been deposited by rivers or flowing water. The Paso Robles formation is a Pleistocene aged alluvium deposit that reaches up to 3000 ft (914.4 m) thick near the San Andreas fault and thins out towards the north and west. The Paso Robles formation is a well known aquifer
Aquifer
An aquifer is a wet underground layer of water-bearing permeable rock or unconsolidated materials from which groundwater can be usefully extracted using a water well. The study of water flow in aquifers and the characterization of aquifers is called hydrogeology...
that has been reliably productive for ground wells
Water well
A water well is an excavation or structure created in the ground by digging, driving, boring or drilling to access groundwater in underground aquifers. The well water is drawn by an electric submersible pump, a trash pump, a vertical turbine pump, a handpump or a mechanical pump...
throughout the area. The upper layers of soil are more recent alluvium. This recent layer is thickest near Soda Lake
Soda Lake (San Luis Obispo County)
Soda Lake is a shallow, ephemeral, alkali endorheic lake in the Carrizo Plain in southeastern San Luis Obispo County, California. The lake is located on the southwest side of the northern Carrizo Plain, 103 km east of San Luis Obispo. It can be reached by Soda Lake Road, which runs...
and thins out towards the mountains to the east and west. Throughout the valley the soil composition varies greatly and includes clay
Clay
Clay is a general term including many combinations of one or more clay minerals with traces of metal oxides and organic matter. Geologic clay deposits are mostly composed of phyllosilicate minerals containing variable amounts of water trapped in the mineral structure.- Formation :Clay minerals...
loam
Loam
Loam is soil composed of sand, silt, and clay in relatively even concentration . Loam soils generally contain more nutrients and humus than sandy soils, have better infiltration and drainage than silty soils, and are easier to till than clay soils...
s, silt
Silt
Silt is granular material of a size somewhere between sand and clay whose mineral origin is quartz and feldspar. Silt may occur as a soil or as suspended sediment in a surface water body...
y clay loams, loams, sand
Sand
Sand is a naturally occurring granular material composed of finely divided rock and mineral particles.The composition of sand is highly variable, depending on the local rock sources and conditions, but the most common constituent of sand in inland continental settings and non-tropical coastal...
y loams, and gravel
Gravel
Gravel is composed of unconsolidated rock fragments that have a general particle size range and include size classes from granule- to boulder-sized fragments. Gravel can be sub-categorized into granule and cobble...
y loams. The sandier soils tend to reside near the slopes of the valley and provide greater drainage while the soils with more clay are located on the valley floor near Soda Lake, and have much poorer drainage. The soils in the Carrizo plains have very low fertility because of their high alkalinity
Alkalinity
Alkalinity or AT measures the ability of a solution to neutralize acids to the equivalence point of carbonate or bicarbonate. The alkalinity is equal to the stoichiometric sum of the bases in solution...
content and low rainfall due to the semi-arid climate.
Fauna
Kit Fox
The kit fox is a fox species of North America. Its range is primarily in the southwestern United States and northern and central Mexico. Some mammalogists classify it as conspecific with the swift fox, V. velox, but molecular systematics imply that the two species are distinct.-Range:The...
, the San Joaquin Antelope Squirrel
San Joaquin Antelope Squirrel
The San Joaquin antelope squirrel or Nelson's antelope squirrel.Ammospermophilus nelsoni, is a species of antelope squirrel, in the San Joaquin Valley of the U.S. state of California.-Distribution and habitat:...
, the Blunt-nosed Leopard Lizard, the Giant Kangaroo Rat
Giant Kangaroo Rat
The Giant Kangaroo Rat, Dipodomys ingens, is an endangered rodent species endemic to California.-Description:Dipodomys ingens, the Giant Kangaroo Rat, is one of over 20 species of kangaroo rats, which are small members of the rodent family...
, greater and lesser Sandhill Cranes, and the California condor
California Condor
The California Condor is a New World vulture, the largest North American land bird. Currently, this condor inhabits only the Grand Canyon area, Zion National Park, and coastal mountains of central and southern California and northern Baja California...
. The Tule Elk
Tule Elk
The tule elk is a subspecies of elk found only in California, ranging from the grasslands and marshlands of the Central Valley to the grassy hills on the coast. The subspecies name derives from the tule that it feeds off of, which grows in the marshlands...
, Pronghorn
Pronghorn
The pronghorn is a species of artiodactyl mammal endemic to interior western and central North America. Though not an antelope, it is often known colloquially in North America as the prong buck, pronghorn antelope, or simply antelope, as it closely resembles the true antelopes of the Old World and...
, Black-tailed Jackrabbit, Western Coyotes, and Le Conte’s Thrasher all also make their homes in the Carrizo plains. The hotter climate
Climate
Climate encompasses the statistics of temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, wind, rainfall, atmospheric particle count and other meteorological elemental measurements in a given region over long periods...
and ecology
Ecology
Ecology is the scientific study of the relations that living organisms have with respect to each other and their natural environment. Variables of interest to ecologists include the composition, distribution, amount , number, and changing states of organisms within and among ecosystems...
of Carrizo plains allows the Le Conte's Thrasher
Le Conte's Thrasher
The Le Conte's Thrasher is a pale bird found in the Southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico. It prefers to live in deserts with very little vegetation, where it blends in with the sandy soils...
of the Southwestern United States
Southwestern United States
The Southwestern United States is a region defined in different ways by different sources. Broad definitions include nearly a quarter of the United States, including Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas and Utah...
to have a small disjunct range farther north than normal.
- San Joaquin Kit FoxKit FoxThe kit fox is a fox species of North America. Its range is primarily in the southwestern United States and northern and central Mexico. Some mammalogists classify it as conspecific with the swift fox, V. velox, but molecular systematics imply that the two species are distinct.-Range:The...
— a small nocturnal subspecies of the Kit Fox that was formerly common throughout the San Joaquin Valley but has recently become endangered. - Blunt-nosed Leopard Lizard — a small, 3-5 inch gray to brown lizard with large dark spots and cream-colored cross bands. It has a broad, triangular shaped head and is endemic to California. It inhabits the grasslands and alkali flats of the San Joaquin Valley and the surrounding foothills and valleys.
- Giant Kangaroo RatGiant Kangaroo RatThe Giant Kangaroo Rat, Dipodomys ingens, is an endangered rodent species endemic to California.-Description:Dipodomys ingens, the Giant Kangaroo Rat, is one of over 20 species of kangaroo rats, which are small members of the rodent family...
— the largest of all Kangaroo RatKangaroo ratKangaroo rats, genus Dipodomys, are small rodents native to North America. The common name derives from their bipedal form: as they hop in a manner similar to the much larger kangaroo, although they are not related...
s. The Giant Kangaroo RatGiant Kangaroo RatThe Giant Kangaroo Rat, Dipodomys ingens, is an endangered rodent species endemic to California.-Description:Dipodomys ingens, the Giant Kangaroo Rat, is one of over 20 species of kangaroo rats, which are small members of the rodent family...
is also endemic to California and now only occupies about 2% of its original range, making it critically endangered. - San Joaquin antelope squirrelSan Joaquin Antelope SquirrelThe San Joaquin antelope squirrel or Nelson's antelope squirrel.Ammospermophilus nelsoni, is a species of antelope squirrel, in the San Joaquin Valley of the U.S. state of California.-Distribution and habitat:...
— a light tan squirrel with a white belly and a white stripe down its back and sides. Most of its habitat is used for agriculture, making the Carrizo Plains the habitat for most of the remaining population.
Historical overview
California Department of Fish and Game
The California Department of Fish and Game is a department within the government of California, falling under its parent California Natural Resources Agency. The Department of Fish and Game manages and protects the state's diverse fish, wildlife, plant resources, and native habitats...
, and the Nature Conservancy partnered together to purchase an 82000 acres (331.8 km²) parcel of Carrizo Plain land. This joint effort ensured the protection of this unique and beautiful California plain. Then in 1996, the Carrizo Plain Management Partners again created a joint initiative called the Carrizo Plain Natural Area (CPNA) Plan. The goal of this plan was to
- a. Establish long-term mission and vision statements that reflect the long-term objectives of the CPNA,
- b. Outline objectives and goals for the life of this plan that will help to achieve the mission,
- c. Consolidate a descriptive inventory of area resources and outline appropriate public uses of those resources…,
- d. Provide an overview of operations, maintenance and personnel needs to assist in developing annual work plans and budgeting for implementation of plan goals.
On January 12, 2001, President Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
signed a Presidential proclamation establishing the Carrizo Plain as a national monument. The first monument manager of the new Carrizo Plain National Monument was Marlene Braun (1958–2005); she was succeeded by Johna Hurl. The managerial partners of the CPNA took the responsibility of maintaining this new national monument. Since then, the area of protected land has increased to 250000 acres (1,011.7 km²).
Mission statement
“Manage the CPNA so that indigenous species interact within a dynamic and fully functioning system in perpetuity while conserving unique natural and cultural resources and maintaining opportunities for compatible scientific research, cultural, social and recreational activities.”Administration
Routine monthly meetings and coordinated planning are essential parts in the management of the CPNA. The administration partners of the CPNA work together to make decisions about the area and what needs to be taken care of in order to maintain the natural beauty of the plain. Although each partner has it own headquarters and administrative personnel, the Education Center Coordinator is one position that is funded by all of the CPNA partners. At BLM the staff consists of a project manager, a biological technician, a heavy equipment operator, a computer specialist, and a law enforcement ranger. All TNC personnel are located at their office in San Francisco. DFG at the moment has only one Wildlife Biologist at CPNA along with a Wildlife Assistant II and a Scientific Aid. Outside specialists also volunteer their time to study the area, from plant ecologists to species specialists. The fire suppression administration is the responsibility of BLM, which has formal agreements with KernKern County, California
Spreading across the southern end of the California Central Valley, Kern County is the fifth-largest county by population in California. Its economy is heavily linked to agriculture and to petroleum extraction, and there is a strong aviation and space presence. Politically, it has generally...
, Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara County, California
Santa Barbara County is a county located in the southern portion of the U.S. state of California, on the Pacific coast. As of 2010 the county had a population of 423,895. The county seat is Santa Barbara and the largest city is Santa Maria.-History:...
, and San Luis Obispo
San Luis Obispo County, California
San Luis Obispo County is a county located along the Pacific Ocean in the Central Coast of the U.S. state of California, between Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area. As of the 2010 census its population was 269,637, up from 246,681 at the 2000 census...
counties to help share in the support and funding of its fire suppression program. Funding for other programs within Carrizo Plain National Monument come from its management partners.
Research
Restoration ecology
-Definition:Restoration ecology is the scientific study and practice of renewing and restoring degraded, damaged, or destroyed ecosystems and habitats in the environment by active human intervention and action, within a short time frame...
seems to be one tool that could benefit the entire region by promoting native species diversity, re-establishing natural biological processes
Biological interaction
Biological interactions are the effects organisms in a community have on one another. In the natural world no organism exists in absolute isolation, and thus every organism must interact with the environment and other organisms...
, and protecting endangered species
Endangered species
An endangered species is a population of organisms which is at risk of becoming extinct because it is either few in numbers, or threatened by changing environmental or predation parameters...
habitats.
Current management projects
One of the current range management projects involves removing non-nativeIntroduced species
An introduced species — or neozoon, alien, exotic, non-indigenous, or non-native species, or simply an introduction, is a species living outside its indigenous or native distributional range, and has arrived in an ecosystem or plant community by human activity, either deliberate or accidental...
grasses by selective cattle grazing early in the season when non-native grasses emerge. Later in the season, the management team removes the cattle, giving native plants a competitive advantage versus the non-native vegetation. The use of grazing on the Carrizo Plain National Monument remains a controversial practice.
Future management projects
With oil prices as high as they are, the CPNA management partners have allowed a few companies to drill in the area for new oil wells. The wells at Russell RanchRussell Ranch Oil Field
The Russell Ranch Oil Field is an oil and gas field in the Cuyama Valley of northern Santa Barbara and southern San Luis Obispo Counties, California, in the United States...
and Morales Canyon Oil fields on the other side of the Caliente Range have been unsuccessful for the past 10 years; however experts believe that “a single potential new field with reserves between 2 and 5 million barrels of oil could be developed with 25 to 30 wells” as estimated by Caliente RMP.
There are also an abundant amount of minerals in the Carrizo Plain National Monument. Gypsum
Gypsum
Gypsum is a very soft sulfate mineral composed of calcium sulfate dihydrate, with the chemical formula CaSO4·2H2O. It is found in alabaster, a decorative stone used in Ancient Egypt. It is the second softest mineral on the Mohs Hardness Scale...
, a white mineral used in plasters and wallboards, is a plentiful resource in the plain found in shallow, low-grade areas. In addition, there are detectable amounts of uranium
Uranium
Uranium is a silvery-white metallic chemical element in the actinide series of the periodic table, with atomic number 92. It is assigned the chemical symbol U. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons...
and phosphates. All of these minerals are of low-grade quality, making them unprofitable to reclaim and manufacture.
World Heritage Site
The Wilderness SocietyThe Wilderness Society (United States)
The Wilderness Society is an American organization that is dedicated to protecting America's wilderness. It was formed in 1935 and currently has over 300,000 members and supporters.-Founding:The society was incorporated on January 21, 1935...
considered the Carrizo Plain as a nominee for World Heritage Site
World Heritage Site
A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a place that is listed by the UNESCO as of special cultural or physical significance...
status. Only two other locations in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
—Redwood National Park and Yosemite National Park
Yosemite National Park
Yosemite National Park is a United States National Park spanning eastern portions of Tuolumne, Mariposa and Madera counties in east central California, United States. The park covers an area of and reaches across the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountain chain...
—have received this status. This idea was greatly opposed by The Independent Petroleum Association and the residents of the nearby city of Taft
Taft, California
Taft is a city in the foothills at the extreme southwestern edge of the San Joaquin Valley, in Kern County, California. Taft is located west-southwest of Bakersfield, at an elevation of 955 feet . The population was 9,327 at the 2010 census...
, while supporters of nomination included the City of San Luis Obispo, the San Luis Obispo Chamber of Commerce
Chamber of commerce
A chamber of commerce is a form of business network, e.g., a local organization of businesses whose goal is to further the interests of businesses. Business owners in towns and cities form these local societies to advocate on behalf of the business community...
, and the San Luis Obispo Chapter of the League of Women Voters
League of Women Voters
The League of Women Voters is an American political organization founded in 1920 by Carrie Chapman Catt during the last meeting of the National American Woman Suffrage Association approximately six months before the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution gave women the right to vote...
.
Advantages of World Heritage Site status for the Carrizo Plain might have included increased tourism for the plain and for surrounding areas, as well as increased ability to attract private and public funding for habitat conservation
Habitat conservation
Habitat conservation is a land management practice that seeks to conserve, protect and restore, habitat areas for wild plants and animals, especially conservation reliant species, and prevent their extinction, fragmentation or reduction in range...
, sustainable tourism
Sustainable tourism
Sustainable tourism is tourism attempting to make a low impact on the environment and local culture, while helping to generate future employment for local people. The aim of sustainable tourism is to ensure that development brings a positive experience for local people, tourism companies and the...
, and increased management support. However, opponents of the nomination were concerned that World Heritage Site status would create problems for oil production, grazing rights, off-road recreation
Off-roading
Off-roading is a term for driving a vehicle on unsurfaced roads or tracks, made of materials such as sand, gravel, riverbeds, mud, snow, rocks, and other natural terrain.-Off-road vehicle:...
, and private property
Private property
Private property is the right of persons and firms to obtain, own, control, employ, dispose of, and bequeath land, capital, and other forms of property. Private property is distinguishable from public property, which refers to assets owned by a state, community or government rather than by...
rights. One point of controversy was a buffer zone around the monument; opponents expected this would adversely affect nearby oil drilling sites. Some local residents were also fearful of the international organizations that would monitor and report on the monument's adherence to World Heritage treaty obligations, because maintenance of World Heritage status would depend on compliance with the 1972 Convention Concerning the Protection of World Cultural and Natural Heritage, ratified by the United States. The idea was widespread that the United States would lose sovereignty
Sovereignty
Sovereignty is the quality of having supreme, independent authority over a geographic area, such as a territory. It can be found in a power to rule and make law that rests on a political fact for which no purely legal explanation can be provided...
over the area.
The Wilderness Society eventually decided not to nominate the Carrizo Plain National Monument as a World Heritage Site, as nominations are successful only if they have almost unanimous support.
Oil drilling
While the Carrizo Plain is dotted with dry holes drilled and abandoned by oil companies in decades past, no commercially viable quantities of petroleum have ever been found on the Plain itself. Small quantities of drillable oil have been found south of the Caliente Range, near the Russell Ranch Oil FieldRussell Ranch Oil Field
The Russell Ranch Oil Field is an oil and gas field in the Cuyama Valley of northern Santa Barbara and southern San Luis Obispo Counties, California, in the United States...
, and in the northeast part of the Temblors, abutting the giant McKittrick
McKittrick Oil Field
The McKittrick Oil Field is a large oil and gas field in western Kern County, California. The town of McKittrick overlies the northeastern portion of the oil field...
and Cymric
Cymric Oil Field
The Cymric Oil Field is a large oil field in Kern County, California in the United States. While only the 14th-largest oil field in California in total size, in terms of total remaining reserves it ranks fifth, with the equivalent of over still in the ground...
fields. As the Plain is adjacent to the super-giant oil fields of Kern County – the Midway-Sunset Oil Field
Midway-Sunset Oil Field
The Midway-Sunset Oil Field is a large oil field in Kern County, San Joaquin Valley, California in the United States. Discovered in 1894, and having a cumulative production of close to of oil at the end of 2006, it is the largest oil field in California and the third largest in the United States....
, third largest in the United States, is on the other side of the Temblor Range – the Carrizo Plain has long been considered to have at least a moderate potential for oil development. However, as it is separated from the major oil fields by the San Andreas Fault
San Andreas Fault
The San Andreas Fault is a continental strike-slip fault that runs a length of roughly through California in the United States. The fault's motion is right-lateral strike-slip...
, and the underlying source rock
Source rock
In petroleum geology, source rock refers to rocks from which hydrocarbons have been generated or are capable of being generated. They form one of the necessary elements of a working petroleum system. They are organic-rich sediments that may have been deposited in a variety of environments including...
, the Monterey Formation
Monterey Formation
The Monterey Formation is an extensive Miocene oil-rich geological sedimentary formation in California, with massive outcroppings of the formation in areas of the California Coast Ranges, Peninsular Ranges, and on some of California's off-shore islands...
appears not to have been buried at the right conditions of temperature and pressure, and as the stratigraphy has not favored petroleum entrapment, accumulations of oil in economically recoverable quantities have not been found. Currently, Vintage Production, a subsidiary of Occidental Petroleum
Occidental Petroleum
Occidental Petroleum Corporation is a California-based oil and gas exploration and production company with operations in the United States, the Middle East, North Africa, and South America...
, owns the mineral rights to 30,000 of the monument's 250000 acres (1,011.7 km²). When oil prices spiked in 2007, Vintage notified the U.S. Bureau of Land Management of its intentions to find out if oil is contained in the Carrizo Plain. The mineral rights owned by Vintage pre-exist the monument's creation by President Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
in 2001.
Solar power
The remote Carrizo Plain's status as one of the sunniest places in the state was exploited by the solar powerSolar power
Solar energy, radiant light and heat from the sun, has been harnessed by humans since ancient times using a range of ever-evolving technologies. Solar radiation, along with secondary solar-powered resources such as wind and wave power, hydroelectricity and biomass, account for most of the available...
industry from 1983 to 1994. This was by far the largest photovoltaic array in the world, with 100,000 1'x 4' photovoltaic arrays producing 5.2 megawatts at its peak. The plant was originally constructed by the Atlantic Richfield oil company (ARCO
ARCO
Atlantic Richfield Company is an oil company with operations in the United States as well as in Indonesia, the North Sea, and the South China Sea. It has more than 1,300 gas stations in the western part of the United States. ARCO was originally formed by the merger of East Coast-based Atlantic...
) in 1983. During the 1979 energy crisis
1979 energy crisis
The 1979 oil crisis in the United States occurred in the wake of the Iranian Revolution. Amid massive protests, the Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, fled his country in early 1979 and the Ayatollah Khomeini soon became the new leader of Iran. Protests severely disrupted the Iranian oil...
ARCO became a solar energy pioneer, manufacturing the photovoltaic arrays themselves. ARCO first built a 1 megawatt pilot operation, the Lugo plant in Hesperia, California, which is also now closed. The Carrizo Solar Corporation, based in Albuquerque, New Mexico, bought the two facilities from ARCO in 1990, but the price of oil never rose as was predicted, so the solar plant never became competitive with fossil fuel-based energy production. Carrizo Solar sold its electricity to the local utility for between three and four cents a kilowatt-hour, while a minimum price of eight to ten cents a kilowatt-hour would have been necessary in order for Carrizo to make a profit. Another photovoltaic facility was planned for the site by the Chatsworth Utility Power Group; with an output of 100 megawatts, it would have been many times larger than the existing facility, but the facility never got off the drawing board. The Carrizo Solar Company dismantled its 177 acre (0.71629422 km²) facility in the late 1990s, and the used solar panels are still being resold throughout the world.
In October 2007, the Palo Alto
Palo Alto, California
Palo Alto is a California charter city located in the northwest corner of Santa Clara County, in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, United States. The city shares its borders with East Palo Alto, Mountain View, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Stanford, Portola Valley, and Menlo Park. It is...
company Ausra
Ausra (company)
Ausra Inc. is a company that provides solar thermal power, steam and energy systems for industrial processes and utility-scale electricity generation...
, doing business as Carrizo Energy, filed an application for a 177 MW (peak) Carrizo Energy Solar Farm (CESF) on 640 acres (2.6 km²) adjacent to the previous ARCO site. Instead of photovoltaic cells (as used by ARCO), however, Ausra will use Fresnel mirrors that concentrate solar energy onto pipes in a receiver elevated above the ground. The concentrated solar energy boils water within a row of specially coated stainless steel pipes in an insulated cavity to produce saturated steam. The steam produced in the receivers is collected in a series of pipes, routed to steam drums, and then to the two turbine generators. Steam used by the steam turbines is condensed into liquid water and then returned to the solar field. Electricity from the steam generators will be used in San Luis Obispo county. Local opposition to some solar farm proposals centers on concerns about height above grade, noise and heat plume.
The solar field will operate daily from sunrise to sunset. Typical operating hours for the CESF will be approximately 13 hours per day, or an average of 4,765 hours per year.
On August 14, 2008, Pacific Gas and Electric Company
Pacific Gas and Electric Company
The Pacific Gas and Electric Company , commonly known as PG&E, is the utility that provides natural gas and electricity to most of the northern two-thirds of California, from Bakersfield almost to the Oregon border...
announced agreements to buy the power from two proposed photovoltaic plants in the Carrizo Plain, Topaz Solar Farm
Topaz Solar Farm
Topaz Solar Farm is a proposed 550 megawatt solar photovoltaic power plant, to be built by First Solar, Inc. in the Carrizo Plain, northwest of California Valley at a cost of over $1 billion...
and High Plains Ranch, with a combined peak power of 800 MW. If built, these will be the largest photovoltaic plants in the world.
Grazing
Few issues regarding the CPNM have been as controversial as grazingGrazing
Grazing generally describes a type of feeding, in which a herbivore feeds on plants , and also on other multicellular autotrophs...
. The internal dispute in the Bureau of Land Management
Bureau of Land Management
The Bureau of Land Management is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior which administers America's public lands, totaling approximately , or one-eighth of the landmass of the country. The BLM also manages of subsurface mineral estate underlying federal, state and private...
created national headlines when Marlene Braun, the first Monument Manager of the CPNM, committed suicide in 2005. An investigative article by Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
reporters Julie Cart and Maria LaGanga revealed that Braun discussed grazing extensively in correspondence just before her suicide.The proclamation for the Carrizo Plain National Monument addressed grazing, but its language is similar to that found in most similar proclamations. The proclamation directed BLM to manage grazing in accordance with existing laws and regulations. Braun chose to allow Taylor Grazing Act
Taylor Grazing Act
The Taylor Grazing Act of 1934 is a United States federal law that provides for the regulation of grazing on the public lands to improve rangeland conditions and regulate their use....
allotments to expire and replaced them with free use permits. This action was opposed both by many ranchers and Braun's field office supervisor, Ron Huntsinger. Her practice, which would allow BLM to set stocking rates each season as opposed to guaranteeing stocking rates for ten year periods, was contrary to the desires of the Department of Interior
United States Department of the Interior
The United States Department of the Interior is the United States federal executive department of the U.S. government responsible for the management and conservation of most federal land and natural resources, and the administration of programs relating to Native Americans, Alaska Natives, Native...
of President George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
. Bakersfield District Office Manager Ron Huntsinger was brought in to oversee a continuation of the Taylor Grazing Act permit system. Braun and Huntsinger clashed repeatedly and Braun faced the prospect of stiff penalties for insubordination
Insubordination
Insubordination is the act of willfully disobeying an authority. Refusing to perform an action that is unethical or illegal is not insubordination; neither is refusing to perform an action that is not within the scope of authority of the person issuing the order.Insubordination is typically a...
at the time of her death. The LA Times, in a follow-up article by Julie Cart, said, “What began as a policy dispute – to graze or not to graze livestock on the fragile Carrizo grasslands – became a morass of environmental politics and office feuding that Braun was convinced threatened both her future and the landscape she loved.” The monument manager's suicide brought "into stark focus the difficulty BLM managers had in trying to balance the demands of providing protection in accordance with the proclamations and balancing the multiple use mandate of FLPMA."
See also
- Native grasses of California
- California Valley, CaliforniaCalifornia Valley, CaliforniaCalifornia Valley is an unincorporated community located in the eastern part of San Luis Obispo County, California, in the northern portion of the Carrizo Plain.Located...
- California Valley Airport
- Painted Rock
External links
- Carrizo Plain National Monument Official BLM Website
- Carrizo Plain, USGS — 3D photographic tour featuring regional geology
- Carrizo Plain, Sierra Club
- The Friends of the Carrizo Plain
- Carrizo Plains: The Nature Conservancy
- Carrizo Plain, Los Padres ForestWatch
- Marlene Braun, First Monument Manager
- Carrizo Plain Weather by MesoWest, University of Utah
- BLM Goodwin Education Center
- April 16, 2009 story on Carrizo Plain from The Santa Barbara Independent