Santa Lucia Mountains
| Santa Lucia Mountains | ||
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 The coastal Santa Lucia Mountains as seen from Cone Peak |
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| Highest peak | Junipero Serra Peak ( 1786 m ) | |
| location | California (USA) | |
| part of | Southern Coast Ranges , California Coast Mountains | |
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| Coordinates | 36 ° 8 ′ N , 121 ° 25 ′ W | |
 Typical landscape of the region |
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The Santa Lucia Mountains ( English Santa Lucia Range or Santa Lucia Mountains ) is a mountain range on the coast of California . The mountain range is part of the Southern Coast Ranges , part of the California Coast Mountains . It mainly belongs to Monterey County , only its southern foothills protrude into San Luis Obispo County . The Santa Lucia Mountains are known as the hinterland of the Big Sur coastal strip on California Highway No. 1 .
The mountains were named after Saint Lucia of Syracuse in 1602 by the Spanish officer, explorer and cartographer Sebastián Vizcaíno .
topography
The Santa Lucia Mountains run on the coast from Monterey 170 kilometers in a south-easterly direction to San Luis Obispo . The highest peak is Junipero Serra Peak at 1786 meters . In the east of the mountains lies the valley of the Salinas River , in the southeast lie the San Antonio and Nacimiento reservoirs .
Vegetation and fauna
The west side of the mountains facing the Pacific is covered with a forest that is characterized by the high rainfall. It is mainly composed of yellow pine , Pacific madrone and the endemic " awn fir ". The Santa Lucia Mountains were part of the coast redwood's natural range , but its populations in the region were almost completely cleared at the turn of the 20th century. Only remnants are left at Salmon Creek , they are also the southernmost occurrence of the species.
The eastern side is in the rain shadow and is overgrown with a bush called chaparral , similar to the maquis in the Mediterranean region. The vegetation consists mainly of creosote bush , coulter pine ( Pinus coulteri ), nut pine ( Pinus sabiniana ) and various types of oak . Typical fauna elements are mule deer and yellow-billed star .
Use and conservation
Almost all of the mountains are owned by the federal government . Large parts are as Los Padres National Forest reported, a National Forest under management of the United States Forest Service . In the northern part of the National Forests is the Ventana Wilderness , in the south the Silver Peak Wilderness . Wilderness Areas are the strictest class of nature reserves in the United States.
In the National Forest are 1997 California condors reintroduced. The species was extinct in the wild in the 1980s and is the subject of the largest conservation breeding program in the United States. The small population of Big Sur has had contact with the animals that are being released into the Pinnacles National Park 50 km to the east since around 2006 . The Ventana Wilderness also featured the program's first successful brood of wild California condors.
In the southeast, part of the mountains belongs to Fort Hunter Liggett , which is the largest training area in the United States Military Reserve with around 800 square kilometers .
tourism
The Santa Lucia Mountains form the hinterland of the Big Sur coastline and thus the backdrop for a classic tourist route. There are several thousand kilometers of trails in the National Forest that can be used by hikers, riders and mountain bikers. The paths in the Wilderness Areas are only accessible to hikers and riders, mountain bikes are prohibited here as mechanical means of transport, as in all Wilderness Areas .
Web links
- Information text at eoearth.org (English)
Individual evidence
- ^ Geographic Names Information System: Santa Lucia Ranges
- ↑ Walt Koenig, Mark Reynolds: Yellow-billed Magpie (Pica nuttalli) . In: A. Poole: The Birds of North America Online . Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca 2009. doi : 10.2173 / bna.180 , accessed June 1, 2012.
- ↑ Ventata Wilderness Alliance information (English)