Archive for May 1, 2000
California Lighthouses
California’s rugged 1200-mile coastline has long been renowned for the fury of its hazardous waters and the deception of its offshore reefs and rocks. Only after California entered the United States in 1850 Was any effort made to provide navigational aids. In 1854 Alcatraz Island Lighthouse in San Francisco Bay became the Golden State’s first,…
Read MoreThe Fence and the Mexico-U.S. Border
The last three miles of the California Coastal Trail south from the town of Imperial Beach follow the beach adjacent to the Tijuana River National Estuarine Research Reserve (TRNERR). You can’t miss the end of the journey at Border Field State Park. A huge fence made out of foot-thick pipes descends from the bluff into…
Read MoreMonterey: Center of Mexican California
Juan Cabrillo, a Portuguese captain sailing for Spain, entered Monterey Bay and claimed the area for Spain in 1542, just 50 years after Columbus’ maiden voyage to America. In 1602 Sebastian Vizcaino landed at Monterey, naming it for his patron, the count of Monterey. Vizcaino described a fertile land of mild climate with a “noble…
Read MoreUnique Torrey Pines State Reserve
The Torrey pine reigns among the rarest of the rare plants on the California shore. Before the last ice age over 11,000 years ago, Torrey pine forests covered large areas of southern California. Then changing climatic conditions reduced the stands to one of the world’s smallest native distributions of any tree. A few thousand Torrey…
Read MoreSan Diego’s Coastal Rail Trail and Coastal Rail Service
A San Diego population dead set on outdoor recreation in the fine desert weather of southern California generates a high level of support for developing new recreational opportunities. The large numbers of bicyclists riding along congested Pacific Coast Highway and other roadways and in parks indicated the need for a bike trail system. A coalition…
Read MoreCan the Last Wild Places Be Saved?
No one doubts that the car is king in America, and nowhere is it more greatly glorified than in southern California. There the ugly sibling of the car, unfettered urban and suburban sprawl-also held in high regard-grows cancerously into the fragile open spaces of valley and hill throughout the region. The octopus offspring of this…
Read MoreDana Point, Then and Now
In 1835 the trading brig Pilgrim sailed around Cape Horn in search of Spanish cowhides for the Boston shoe industry. The Pilgrim put in at what was then known as San Juan to trade with the Spanish mission, San Juan Capistrano. During the 1830s and 1840s, cowhide trading became such big business that the hides…
Read MoreThe Coastal Wetlands of Southern California
In the last 150 years, thousands of acres of California’s marine estuaries disappeared under the development of harbors, marinas, industrial building and housing tracts. Wetlands became the Los Angeles, Long Beach and San Diego Harbors. Downtown San Francisco and the Marina District sit atop bay mud, much of San Francisco Bay wetlands has been converted…
Read MoreThe Profits and Pleasures of the Harbor
The Los Angeles/Long Beach Harbors exemplify the huge L.A. economy. The harbors abut each other inside San Pedro Bay and are among the world’s biggest ports. The Port of Los Angeles alone throbs with commerce at 29 cargo terminals. In /998 it handled 3.2 million containers with a cargo value of $73.8 billion. Add about…
Read MoreLos Angeles River Basin Past, Present & Future
Imagine the Los Angeles basin as a rolling grassland with the Los Angeles, San Gabriel and Santa Ana Rivers flowing through riparian lowlands of cottonwood, alder and sycamore. Further imagine marshes, lagoons and large lakes interlaced with thickets of willow, grape and brambles, chaparral and oak forests draping the hills, numerous springs bubbling to the…
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