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Information about Los Padres National Forest

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View into the Los Padres backcountry, Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties, California: everything in this picture is within the Los Padres National Forest
Los Padres National Forest is a forest located in southern and central California, which includes most of the mountainous land along the California coast from Ventura to Monterey, extending inland. Elevations range from sea level to 8,831 feet.

Geography

The forest is approximately 1,950,000 acres (7890 km²) in area, of which 1,724,000 acres (6977 km²) or about 88% are public lands; the rest are privately owned inholdings. The forest is divided between two noncontiguous areas. The northern division is within Monterey County and northern San Luis Obispo County and includes the beautiful Big Sur Coast and scenic interior areas. The "main division" of the forest includes lands within San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Ventura and Kern Counties. Mountain ranges within the Los Padres include the Santa Lucia Mountains, La Panza Range, Caliente Range (a small part), Sierra Madre Mountains, San Rafael Mountains, Santa Ynez Mountains, and Topatopa Mountains; the highest parts of the forest are not within named mountain ranges, but are adjacent to the western San Emigdio Mountains and include Mount Pinos, Cerro Noroeste, and Reyes Peak. The forest is also adjacent to the Angeles National Forest, which is in the Los Angeles County in Southern California.

Many rivers in Southern and Central California have their points of origin within the Los Padres National Forest, including the Carmel, Salinas, Cuyama, Sisquoc, Santa Ynez, Sespe, Ventura, and Piru.

Several wilderness areas have been set aside within the Los Padres National Forest, including the San Rafael Wilderness, the first primitive area to be included in the U.S. wilderness system after the passage of the Wilderness Act in 1964. Another large wilderness created in the 1970s was the Ventana Wilderness in the Santa Lucia Mountains.

More recent wilderness areas created in the Los Padres include:
  • Garcia Wilderness (14,100 acres (57 km) in the Lucia District)
  • Santa Lucia Wilderness (20,412 acres (83 km) in the Lucia District, in the Santa Lucia Mountains)
  • Machesna Mountain Wilderness (19,880 acres (80 km), in the La Panza Range in San Luis Obispo County)
  • Silver Peak Wilderness (31,555 acres (128 km), in the Monterey District)
  • Dick Smith Wilderness (64,800 acres (262 km) in the Santa Barbara Ranger District)
  • Chumash Wilderness (38,150 acres (154 km) in the Mt. Pinos Ranger District, just west of Mount Pinos)
  • Sespe Wilderness (219,700 acres (889 km), in both the Ojai and Mt. Pinos Ranger Districts)
  • Matilija Wilderness (29,600 acres (120 km) in the Ojai Ranger District)

Wildlife and vegetation

Many threatened and endangered species live within the Forest. Probably most famous among them is the California Condor (Gymnogyps californianus). The American Peregrine Falcon is also entirely dependent on the Forest for its survival. The California Mule Deer may be the most common large mammal.

Many vegetation types are represented in the Los Padres, including chaparral, the common ground cover of most coastal ranges in California below about 5,000 feet (1500 m), and coniferous forests, which can be found in abundance in the Ventana Wilderness as well as the region around Mount Pinos in the northeastern portion of the Forest.

Use restrictions

Los Padres exhibits an extreme risk of forest fires; in 1965, a truck driven by country singer Johnny Cash caught fire, and burned several hundred acres in Ventura county. Because of this risk, there are many restrictions on building fires in Los Padres National Forest. Some portions of the forest are closed entirely to public entry during the fire season (including the entire San Rafael Wilderness). Normally the fire season extends from June 1 each year until the time of the first autumn rains, which is usually in mid-November.

A National Forest Adventure Pass is required for parking in most locations of the Los Padres National Forest, as well as other National Forests in Southern California, and may be obtained from local merchants, visitor centers, or online. It is not required in the Monterey Ranger District (Ventana Wilderness and Silver Peak Wilderness).

See also

External links

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An inholding is privately owned land inside the boundary of a national park, national forest, state park, or similar publicly-owned protected area. Inholdings result from private ownership of lands prior to the designation of the protected park or forest area, which then end up
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Monterey County is a county located on the Pacific coast of the U.S. state of California, its northwestern section forming the southern half of Monterey Bay. The northern half of the bay is in Santa Cruz County. As of 2000, the population was 401,762. The county seat is Salinas.
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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 2000 its population was 246,681. The county seat is San Luis Obispo, with about 46,000 residents.
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Big Sur is a sparsely populated region of the central California, United States coast where the Santa Lucia Mountains rise abruptly from the Pacific Ocean. The terrain offers stunning views, making Big Sur a popular tourist destination.
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Santa Barbara County is a county located on the Pacific coast of the southern portion of the U.S. state of California, just west of Ventura County. As of 2000 the county had a population of 399,347.
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Ventura County is a county in the southern part of the U.S. state of California (Southern California). It is located on California's Pacific coast, and forms the northwestern part of the Greater Los Angeles Area.
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Kern County is a county located in the southern Central Valley of the U.S. state of California. Established in 1866, it extends east beyond the southern slope of the Eastern Sierra Nevada range into the Mojave Desert, and includes parts of the Western Indian Wells Valley, and
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The Santa Lucia Mountains or Santa Lucia Range is a mountain range in coastal California, running from Monterey southeast for 105 miles (170 km) to San Luis Obispo. The highest summit is Junipero Serra Peak, 5,862 ft (1,786 m), at
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The La Panza Range is a mountain range on the Central Coast of California in central San Luis Obispo County, east of the small town of Santa Margarita. It is one of the Coast Ranges.
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The Sierra Madre Mountains are a mountain range in northern Santa Barbara County, California, USA. They are a portion of the Transverse Ranges, which are themselves part of the Pacific Coast Ranges of western North America.
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The San Rafael Mountains are a mountain range in central Santa Barbara County, California, USA. They are a portion of the Transverse Ranges, which are themselves part of the Pacific Coast Ranges of western North America.
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The Santa Ynez Mountains are a portion of the Transverse Ranges, part of the Pacific Coast Ranges of the west coast of North America, and are one of the northernmost mountain ranges in Southern California.
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Topatopa Mountains

Country | United States
State | California
Region | Ventura County

Highest point | Hines Peak
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San Emigdio Mountains



Country | United States
State | California
Counties | Kern,Ventura,Los Angeles

Highest point |
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Mount Pinos is a mountain peak located in the Los Padres National Forest, on the boundary between the California counties of Ventura and Kern. It is the highest point in Ventura county at 8,831 ft (2,692 m). Its latitude and longitude are 34.8128°N and 119.1444°W.
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Cerro Noroeste (or Mount Abel) is located in Southern California's Kern County, a mile north of the Ventura County border. It's located a few miles southwest of the community of Pine Mountain Club, at an elevation of 8,286 ft (2,526 m).
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Angeles National Forest (ANF) was established by executive order on December 20, 1892 as the San Gabriel Timberland Reserve. It covers over 2,600 km² (650,000 acres) and is located in the San Gabriel Mountains of Los Angeles County, just north of the metropolitan area of Los
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Los Angeles County is a county in California and is by far the most populous county in the United States. Figures from the U.S. Census Bureau give an estimated 2006 population of 9,948,081 residents, [1] while the California State government's population bureau
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The Carmel River is a river, 36 miles long, on the central coast of Monterey County, California. It is often considered as the northern boundary of Big Sur. It originates in the Santa Lucia Mountains, flows northwest through the Carmel Valley and empties into the Pacific Ocean
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The Salinas River may refer to:
  • The Salinas River (California) in California in the United States.
  • The Salinas River (Guam) in Guam in the United States.
  • The Salinas River (New Mexico) in New Mexico in the United States.
  • The Salinas River (Guatemala) in Guatemala.

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The Cuyama River is a river in southern San Luis Obispo County and northern Santa Barbara County, California. The 85-miles river is a tributary of the Santa Maria River, which is formed when the Cuyama River meets the Sisquoc River.
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The Sisquoc River is a river in Santa Barbara County, California. It is a tributary of the Santa Maria River, which is formed when the Sisquoc River meets the Cuyama River.
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Santa Ynez River

Country | United States
State | California
County | Santa Barbara
Major cities | Solvang,Lompoc

Length |
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Coordinates:

Sespe Creek is a small stream in Ventura County, California in the United States. The creek starts at Portero Seco, and is formed by more than thirty tributary streams before it empties into the Santa Clara River in Fillmore.
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The Ventura River is a river in Ventura County, California. The river forms at the confluence of Matilija Creek and North Fork Matilija Creek, 15 miles upstream from the Pacific Ocean.
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Piru Creek is a large stream in northern Los Angeles County and western Ventura County, California. It is a tributary of the Santa Clara River, the largest stream system in Southern California that is still relatively natural.
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Location California, USA
Nearest city Santa Barbara, California
Coordinates
Area 197,380 acres (799 km²)
Established 1968

Governing body U.S.
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Wilderness Act of 1964 (Pub.L. 88-577) was written by Howard Zahniser of The Wilderness Society. It created the legal definition of wilderness in the United States, and protected some 9 million acres (36,000 km²) of federal land.
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The Ventana Wilderness is a wilderness area located in the Santa Lucia Mountains along the Central Coast of California. This wilderness was originally established in 1969 by the Ventana Wilderness Act and then subsequently enlarged to its present size of 240,024 acres.
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