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78-883: The California Floristic Province belongs to the Madrean Region of the Holarctic (or Boreal) Floristic Kingdom. As part of the Madrean Region, it is bordered on its east by the Great Basin Floristic Province , and to the south and southwest by the Sonoran Province (which includes the Mojave , Colorado , Sonoran , and Baja California deserts ). To the north, the region is bordered by the Vancouverian Province of

156-656: A drought. In 2014–2015, farm-related losses in California totaled $ 5 billion and 20,000 farmers also lost their jobs. Agriculture is the primary industry in most of the Central Valley. A notable exception is the Sacramento area, which hosts a large and stable workforce of government employees. Despite state hiring cutbacks and the closure of several military bases, Sacramento's economy has continued to expand and diversify and now more closely resembles that of

234-494: A greater difference in the land in a shorter amount of time. According to a survey paper written in 1988 about a storm that occurred in 1982 in the Central Valley region, rainstorms that can cause that type of landslide to happen about every 5 years. Landslides to higher degrees, such as the ones that happened due to the 1982 storm, only occur every 20 to 100+ years. This intense storm in the San Francisco Bay area caused

312-577: A hand in the local extinction of the pika populations in the Great Basin area east of the Sierra Nevada . More research proposes that as the temperature keeps rising, alpine species will begin to migrate north looking for cooler climates that can support more of a sustainable habitat. Reducing emissions from the burning of fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and gas is the first step in the fight against global warming. Biodiversity hotspots face

390-419: A lot of damage as a result of moving debris and landslides. They caused damage to the land and put people living in these areas that are susceptible to these disasters in great harm. The aftermath of this storm involved millions of dollars in retributions to restore the land and surrounding areas. It also led people to make greater efforts into planning around the danger of these landslides, as in how to manipulate

468-497: A name still often seen in scientific references (notably Great Valley Sequence ), as well as "Golden Empire", a booster name that is still referred to by some organizations (notably Golden Empire Transit , Golden Empire Council ). Ideas about what constitutes the “Central Valley” can vary from person-to-person. While almost all authoritative sources and external observers consider the Sacramento Valley to be part of

546-692: A principal center of diversity within the province. The flora of the Californian Province is partially shared with the spatially distant Chile-Patagonian region of the Antarctic kingdom and to a lesser extent Mediterranean region of the Holarctic kingdom . The vegetation of the Californian Province is varied. Wetter northern parts of the Californian province ( Northern California and Oregon ) as defined by Peter Raven and D.I. Axelrod, as well as by Conservation International , fall under

624-991: A series of pumps that divert water into the California Aqueduct , which runs south along the length of the San Joaquin Valley. In parallel, pumps divert water into the Delta–Mendota Canal . The flow of the Sacramento River is further supplemented by a tunnel from the Trinity River (a tributary of the Klamath River , northwest of the Sacramento Valley) near Redding . Cities of the San Francisco Bay Area , also needing water, built aqueducts from

702-470: Is Fresno followed by the state capital Sacramento . The following metropolitan and micropolitan statistical areas are listed from largest to smallest: After English and Spanish , Punjabi is the third most commonly spoken language in the Central Valley. The valley has the largest Sikh population in the nation . The flatness of the valley floor contrasts with the rugged hills or gentle mountains that are typical of most of California's terrain. The valley

780-707: Is bordered by, and sometimes defined as partly coincident with, the Rocky Mountain Floristic Region in the north. This boundary is poorly defined as some leading geobotanists, including Robert F. Thorne ( Flora of North America ) and Armen Takhtajan , include Oregon and Northern California within the Rocky Mountain Province. The California Floristic Province is a world biodiversity hotspot as defined by Conservation International , due to an unusually high concentration of endemic plants: approximately 8,000 plant species in

858-585: Is bounded by the Coast Ranges to the west and the Sierra Nevada to the east. The Central Valley is a region known for its agricultural productivity . It provides a large share of the food produced in California. California provides more than half of the fruits, vegetables, and nuts grown in the United States. More than 7,000,000 acres (28,000 km ) of the valley are irrigated via reservoirs and canals. The valley hosts many cities, including

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936-541: Is dominated by Artemisia species and Chenopodiaceae genera. The Great Basin montane forests include ancient Great Basin bristlecone pine ( Pinus longaeva ) trees. The Californian province occupies Central and Southern California from the seashore to the foothills of the Cascade Range , the Sierra Nevada range, and northern parts of Baja California in Mexico . It possesses the most diverse flora within

1014-442: Is ideal for agriculture. The Central Valley is one of the United States' most productive growing regions. This is made possible by engineering the watercourses to prevent flooding during the spring snowmelt and drying up in the summer and autumn. Many dams, including Shasta Dam , Oroville Dam , Folsom Dam , New Melones Dam , Don Pedro Dam , Hetch Hetchy Dam , Friant Dam , Pine Flat Dam and Isabella Dam , were constructed on

1092-501: Is life-threatening or even fatal. Due to the agricultural industry's significant presence in the Valley, pesticide drift and leaching have become concerns. Residents risk contamination when living in proximity to application sites. Air pollution is a growing problem that affects all of the citizens in the Central Valley. Some reasons of poor air pollution in the Central Valley are due to agriculture and its geographical features. Since

1170-403: Is now San Francisco Bay . Over the millennia, the valley filled with the sediments of these same ranges, as well as the rising Sierra Nevada to the east; that filling eventually created an extraordinary flatness just barely above sea level. Before California's flood control and aqueduct system was built, annual snow melt turned much of the valley into an inland sea. The one notable exception to

1248-414: Is one of the five biodiversity hotspots with Mediterranean climates , and it is characterized by hot, dry summers and cool, wet winters. Many parts of the coastal areas of this hotspot, being moderated by the ocean, experience cool summers due to the regular occurrence of ocean fog , which sustains redwood forests amongst other communities. In California, the province includes most of the state excluding

1326-491: Is part of the larger Pacific Border province, which in turn is part of the Pacific Mountain System . The Central Valley was formerly a diverse expanse of grassland, containing areas of prairie , desert grassland (at the southern end), oak savanna , riparian forest , marsh , several types of seasonal vernal pools , and large lakes such as now-dry Tulare Lake (once the largest freshwater lake west of

1404-399: Is released every Thursday, showing which parts of the U.S. are in a drought. It started in 2000, and since then the longest duration of a drought in California lasted a total of 376 weeks. It started on December 11, 2011, and ended on March 5, 2019. The most intense period captured on the drought monitor was on the week of July 29, 2014. It showed that 58.41% of California's land was affected by

1482-622: Is the major center of diversity. More than 250 genera and probably more than half of the species of the region are endemic to it according to Takhtajan. The region is subdivided into four floristic provinces : The Great Basin floristic province includes most of the Great Basin , as well as the Colorado Plateau , the Snake River Plain , and Arizona north of the Mogollon Rim . It shares much of its flora with

1560-547: Is thought to have originated below sea level as an offshore area depressed by subduction of the Farallon Plate into a trench farther offshore. The valley has no earthquake faults of its own but is surrounded by faults to the east and west. The valley was enclosed by the uplift of the Coast Ranges , with its original outlet into Monterey Bay . Faulting moved the Coast Ranges, and a new outlet developed near what

1638-445: Is very hot and dry during the summer and cool and damp in winter when frequent ground fog known regionally as " tule fog " can obscure vision. Summer daytime temperatures frequently surpass 100 °F (38 °C), and common heat waves might bring temperatures exceeding 115 °F (46 °C). Mid-autumn to mid-spring is the rainy season —although during the late summer, southeasterly winds can bring tropical thunderstorms, mainly in

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1716-744: The California Native Plant Society . Madrean Region The Madrean region (named after the Sierra Madre Occidental ) is a floristic region within the Holarctic kingdom in North America , as delineated by Armen Takhtajan and Robert F. Thorne . It occupies arid or semiarid areas in the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico and is bordered by the Rocky Mountain floristic region and North American Atlantic region of

1794-540: The Golden Gate . Many of the islands lie below sea level because of intensive agriculture, and face a high risk of flooding, which would allow salt water to rush back into the delta, especially when too little fresh water is flowing in from the Valley. The Sacramento River carries far more water than the San Joaquin, with an estimated 22 million acre-feet (27 km ) of virgin annual runoff, as compared to

1872-530: The Holarctic kingdom in the north and in the east, Caribbean region of the Neotropical kingdom in the south. The Madrean region is characterized by a very distinct flora with at least three endemic families ( Fouquieriaceae , Simmondsiaceae , and Setchellanthaceae ). Crossosomataceae , Garryaceae , Lennoaceae , Limnanthaceae and Stegnospermataceae have their principal development here; for Onagraceae , Polemoniaceae and Hydrophyllaceae it

1950-636: The Mexican Plateau region, including Madrean pine-oak woodlands . Great Central Valley The Central Valley is a broad, elongated, flat valley that dominates the interior of California . It is 40–60 mi (60–100 km) wide and runs approximately 450 mi (720 km) from north-northwest to south-southeast, inland from and parallel to the Pacific coast of the state . It covers approximately 18,000 sq mi (47,000 km ), about 11% of California's land area. The valley

2028-733: The Modoc Plateau , Great Basin and deserts in the southeastern part of the state. In Oregon, the province includes the coastal mountains south of Cape Blanco and most of the Rogue River watershed . In Baja California, the province includes the forest and chaparral belts of the Sierra Juarez and the Sierra San Pedro Martir (but excluding their desert slopes to the east), coastal areas south to about El Rosario , and Guadalupe Island . In Nevada,

2106-575: The Mokelumne River and Tuolumne River that run east to west across the middle part of the Central Valley. Most valley lowlands are prone to flooding, especially in the old Tulare Lake , Buena Vista Lake , and Kern Lake rivers. The Kings , Kaweah , Tule and Kern rivers originally flowed into these seasonal lakes, which would expand each spring to flood large parts of the southern San Joaquin Valley. Farms, towns, and infrastructure in these lakebeds are protected with levee systems, while

2184-533: The Rocky Mountain Floristic Region , and much of coastal and mountain Northern California and southwestern Oregon are defined as falling into either province depending on a given author's delimitations. With an area of 293,803 km (113,438 sq mi), as defined by Conservation International , it includes 70% of California and extends into southwestern Oregon , a small part of western Nevada and northern Baja California . The province

2262-683: The Rocky Mountain region in Takhtajan and Thorne's system and are not parts of the Madrean region. The Sonoran province comprises arid areas in the southwestern U.S. and northwestern Mexico from California and Baja California to Texas and Tamaulipas , including the Mojave (characterized by Yucca brevifolia , Joshua Tree), Sonora and Chihuahua Deserts. The vegetation is dominated by Yucca , Cactaceae species ( Opuntia spp. and other), as well as by Larrea tridentata (Creosote bush). The Mexican Highlands province comprises areas in

2340-522: The Tehachapi Mountains . Riverside trees include willows, western sycamore ( Platanus racemosa ), box elder ( Acer negundo ), Fremont cottonwood ( Populus fremontii ), and the endemic valley oak ( Quercus lobata ). Another endemic species is brittlescale ( Atriplex depressa ) which grows in saline and alkali soils. The Central Valley was once home to large populations of pronghorn antelope ( Antilocapra americana ), elk including

2418-487: The Transverse Ranges , Montane, and Transmontane ("the other side of the mountain"), in the rainshadow of these ranges, typically desert . The hotspot presents a higher level of endemism in plants than in animals. Of the 7,031 vascular plants (species, subspecies or varieties) found in the hotspot, 2,153 taxa (in 25 genera) are endemic, meaning they are found nowhere else. About 80,000 km, or 24.7% of

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2496-568: The 2003 Natural History Guide Introduction to California Plant Life established a cohesive set of titles to identify California plant communities based on but somewhat different from those earlier established by California botanist Philip A. Munz . Broken into three large groupings based on geography, the Ornduff scheme includes : the Cismontane ("this side of the mountain") west of the Sierra Nevada or San Jacinto Mountains , or North of

2574-718: The CFP includes the region of the Sierra in the vicinity of Lake Tahoe , with the eastern border with the Great Basin corresponding roughly to the location of Reno-Carson City. Parts of the following mountain ranges are included in the province: The Great Central Valley is also within the CFP. Numerous plant communities exist in California and botanists have attempted to structure them into identifiable vegetation types groupings. Robert Ornduff and colleagues Phyllis M. Faber and Todd Keeler-Wolf did much work on this problem, and in

2652-417: The Central Valley consists mostly of farming land, a wide, flat valley, the emissions from the soil that is used for growing produce are released into the air. The soil exudes nitrous oxide , an odorless and colorless gas that can be harmful when exposed to it for a long period of time, and incorporates itself into the ozone layer located at ground level. Production of nitrous oxide in California has shown that

2730-456: The Central Valley produces 8 percent of the nation's agricultural output by value: US$ 43.5 billion in 2013. California's farms and ranches earned almost $ 50 billion in 2018. The valley's productivity relies on irrigation from surface water and badly depleted underground aquifers . About one-sixth of the US' irrigated land is in the Central Valley. Virtually all non-tropical crops are grown in

2808-523: The Central Valley, which cause 312 landslides to move that year. Slow-moving landslides are impacted even if the intensity of the rainfall is not as severe. Consistent, moderately intense rainfall increases the saturation of water in the ground. This over-saturation is what causes the movement of a slow-moving landslide, rather than the more quick-moving and rigorous landslides that also occur in this region of California. Quick-moving landslides are caused by very intense rain, or sometimes earthquakes, that make

2886-405: The Central Valley, which is the primary source for produce throughout the United States, including tomatoes, grapes, cotton, apricots, and asparagus. Six thousand almond growers produced more than 600 million pounds (270 × 10 ^  kg) in 2000, about 70 percent of the world's supply and nearly 100 percent of domestic production. The US' top four counties in agricultural sales are in

2964-569: The Mississippi), Buena Vista Lake and Kern Lake . However, much of the Central Valley environment has been altered by human activity, including the introduction of exotic plants , notably grasses. The valley's grasslands, wetlands, and riparian forests constitute the California Central Valley grasslands , a temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands ecoregion . The foothill oak woodlands and chaparral that fringe

3042-695: The Pacific. The waters of the Tulare Basin essentially never reach the ocean (with the exception of Kings River waters diverted northward for irrigation), though they are connected by man-made canals to the San Joaquin. The valley encompasses all or parts of 18 California counties: Butte , Colusa , Glenn , Fresno , Kern , Kings , Madera , Merced , Placer , San Joaquin , Sacramento , Shasta , Stanislaus , Sutter , Tehama , Tulare , Yolo and Yuba . Older names include "the Great Valley",

3120-578: The Sacramento River, 26 percent into the San Joaquin, and 27 percent into Tulare Lake. In the south part of the San Joaquin Valley, the alluvial fan of the Kings River and another from Coast Ranges streams have created a divide. The dry Tulare basin of the Central Valley receives flow from four major Sierra Nevada rivers, the Kings, Kaweah , Tule , and Kern . This basin, usually endorheic , formerly filled during snowmelt and spilled out into

3198-616: The Sacramento Valley for about 447 miles (719 km). In the San Joaquin Valley, the San Joaquin River flows roughly northwest for 365 miles (587 km), picking up tributaries such as the Merced River , Tuolumne River , Stanislaus River and Mokelumne River . The Central Valley watershed encompasses over a third of California at 60,000 square miles (160,000 km ), with 46 percent draining into

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3276-576: The Sacramento Valley, with its high year-round flow and wide waterways, has been compared to the small and seasonal rivers of the San Joaquin basin; this also contributes to different identities between the two regions. Subregions and their counties commonly associated with the valley include: The four main population centers in the Central Valley area are roughly equidistant from the next. From south to north, they are Bakersfield , Fresno , Sacramento and Redding . These four cities act as hubs for regional commerce and transportation. The table displays

3354-490: The San Francisco Bay Area. Primary sources of population growth are Bay Area migrants seeking lower housing costs, augmented by immigration from Asia, Central America, Mexico, Ukraine, and the rest of the former Soviet Union. The Central Valley is one of the world's most productive agricultural regions. More than 230 crops are grown there. On less than 1 percent of the total farmland in the United States,

3432-635: The San Joaquin River. Called Tulare Lake , it is usually dry because the rivers feeding it have been diverted for agricultural purposes. Central Valley rivers converge in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta , a network of marshy channels, distributaries, and sloughs that wind around islands mainly used for agriculture. There the rivers merge with tidewater, and eventually reach the ocean after passing through Suisun Bay , San Pablo Bay , upper San Francisco Bay , and finally

3510-406: The San Joaquin's approximately 6 million acre-feet (7.4 km ). Intensive agricultural and municipal water consumption decreased the rate of outflow to about 17 million acre-feet (21 km ) for the Sacramento and 3 million acre-feet (3.7 km ) for the San Joaquin. These figures vary widely from year to year. Over 25 million people, living in the valley and other regions of

3588-453: The addition of soil and fertilization can emit about 161,100 metric tons per year. Long term effects that nitrous oxide can have on a human being is loss of blood pressure, fainting, anemia, or lung cancer. The physical geographical attributes can also contribute to the air pollution quality. The Central Valley is surrounded by mountain ranges which can capture the pollution coming from the agricultural farming, preventing it from dispersing from

3666-579: The counties of Central Valley and their respective population during the 2020 US Decennial Census. Total jobs for each county is from the U.S. Census Bureau, OnTheMap Application and LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (Beginning of Quarter Employment, 2nd Quarter of 2002–2020). As of 2020, some 7.2 million people lived in the Central Valley; it was the fastest-growing region in California. It includes 12 Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSA) and 1 Micropolitan Statistical Area (μSA). Below, they are listed by MSA and μSA population. The largest city

3744-502: The delta. Large blocks of desert scrubland exist in the southern San Joaquin Valley and the Carrizo Plain , just outside the valley, but offering a similar landscape. The wetlands have been the target of rescue operations to restore areas replaced by agriculture. These patches of natural habitat are disconnected, which is particularly damaging for wildlife that is used to migrating along the rivers. Agriculture, grazing land, and

3822-408: The draining of lakes and rivers have radically altered valley habitats. Most of the grassland has been overtaken by new species; most vernal pools have been destroyed, leaving only those on the higher slopes; the marshland has been drained, and the riverbank woodlands have nearly all been affected. The valley gives its name to Valley fever , which is primarily a disease of the lungs that is common in

3900-635: The drier San Joaquin Valley in the south, and the Tulare Basin and its semi-arid desert climate at the southernmost end. The Sacramento and San Joaquin river systems drain their respective valleys and meet to form the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta , a large expanse of interconnected canals , stream beds , sloughs , marshes and peat islands. The delta empties into the San Francisco Bay , and ultimately into

3978-639: The eighth ranked hotspot in the world. As a result, 37% of the province is now under official protection. California had spent more money on the conservation of these precious lands than any other state in America . The conservation efforts created to protect the California Floristic Province would not be possible without the major contributions from organizations such as the Sierra Club , Nature Conservancy , Wilderness Society and

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4056-518: The endemic tule elk subspecies ( Cervus elaphus nannodes ), mule deer ( Odocoileus hemionus ), California ground squirrels , gophers , mice, hare, rabbits and kangaroo rats , along with their predators including the San Joaquin kit fox (an endangered subspecies surviving on the San Joaquin Valley's hillsides). The valley's wetlands were an important habitat for wintering waterbirds and migrating birds of other kinds. Reptiles and amphibians of

4134-522: The first significant rainfall. The official season is from November 1 to March 31. This phenomenon is named after the valley's tule grass wetlands ( tulares ). Auto collisions caused by the tule fog are the leading cause of weather-related casualties in California. Two river systems drain and define the two parts of the Central Valley. The Sacramento River , along with its tributaries the Feather River and American River , flows southwards through

4212-491: The flat valley floor is Sutter Buttes , the remnants of an extinct volcano just to the northwest of Yuba City . Another significant geologic feature of the Central Valley lies hidden beneath the delta. The Stockton Arch is an upwarping of the crust beneath the valley sediments that extends southwest to northeast across the valley. The Central Valley lies within the California Trough physiographic section, which

4290-727: The floristic region. About half of the species are endemic. More than 50 genera (e.g. Adenostoma , Bergerocactus , Carpenteria , Cneoridium , Dendromecon , Fremontodendron , Jepsonia , Lyonothamnus , Neostapfia , Odontostomum , Ornithostaphylos , Pickeringia , Romneya ) are endemic or near-endemic as well. Arctostaphylos , Brodiaeinae , Calochortus , Caulanthus , Streptanthus , Ceanothus , Cryptantha , Downingia , Dudleya , Eritrichieae , Eriogonoideae , Gileae , Hydrophyllaceae , Limnanthaceae , Lotus , Madiinae , Mimulus , Onagreae , Epilobieae , Orcuttieae , Eschscholzioideae , Platystemonoideae , Astragalus and Cupressus have

4368-472: The geographic region, and over 3,400 taxa limited to the CFP proper, as well as having lost over 70% of its primary vegetation. A biodiversity hotspot contains irreplaceable areas to the plants and animals that live there. Among these unique regions, almost every one of them is subject to their exclusive species being at greater risk from the impact of humans. The greatest threat to this area is wilderness destruction caused by large commercial farming industries and

4446-476: The heavy expansion of urban areas. Conservation International proposed a strategy in 1998, to focus more specifically on areas of the California Floristic Province that contained the most human impact in order to lower the threat to the region. The issues that are causing the most threats to this province include but are not limited to population pressures, loss of habitat, unsustainable resource use, and introduced non-native species. The California Floristic Province

4524-513: The highest human populations rendering it one of the four most ecologically degraded expanses in the United States. Other threats include invasive species colonisation , strip mining , oil extraction , air pollution , soil contamination , livestock grazing , wildfires (excessive heat or frequency types), and construction of building developments and roads. Global warming presents future threats. Research done by United States Ecologist, Dr. Erik Beever, suggests that global warming may have had

4602-499: The highest threats due to the fact that their resources and animal or plant species cannot be replicated or found in any other regions on the planet. Conservation efforts receive little to no funding to put toward the protection of these extremely distinctive hotspots. So establishing priorities on where to focus efforts is essential. In 1988, British Ecologist, Norman Myers discovered the ten tropical hotspots that contained endemic species. Then, in 1990, Myers added eight more hotspots to

4680-771: The land to accommodate the consequences. Out of the past twenty-two years, California has experienced significant drought conditions for thirteen years. From 2000 to 2018 was the second driest period that California has ever experienced. The driest three-year period ever in California was from 2012 to 2014. Three-quarters of the state of California is experiencing extreme drought conditions. There are also multiple types of droughts such as agricultural droughts, meteorological droughts, snow droughts, and hydrological droughts. All of these droughts affect California in different ways. Droughts can damage forests and can cause wildfires. Droughts cause forests to become dry which causes trees to die. Dead trees result in wildfires. The U.S. drought monitor

4758-534: The list, one of which was the California Floristic Province. Due to Meyer's extensive research into the biodiversity of these hotspots, Conservation International began a major assessment of these regions in 1996. It is not until 1999, however, that Conservation International finally sets restrictions on what makes up the criteria for a biodiversity hotspot. The California Floristic Province contained more than 1,500 endemic species of vascular plants and had lost at least 70% of its original natural habitat, and so it became

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4836-409: The neighboring provinces and has only a few endemic genera . Species endemism is also moderate (about 25%), but is much more considerable in such genera as Astragalus , Eriogonum , Penstemon , Cymopterus , Lomatium , Cryptantha , Chrysothamnus , Erigeron , Phacelia , Castilleja , and Gilia . The vegetation in the central Great Basin shrub steppe part of the province

4914-799: The original vegetation remains in relatively pristine conditions today. The six largest plant families in California by number of species (40% of all species of vascular plants) are: The province notably has giant sequoia forests, California oak woodlands (all native oaks in this ecosystem are endemic, with the exception of Quercus garryana which ranges into southwestern British Columbia) and redwood forests. Other ecosystems include sagebrush steppes , prickly pear shrublands , coastal sage scrub , chaparral , juniper-pine woodland , upper montane-subalpine forests , alpine forests, riparian forests , cypress forests , mixed evergreen forests , and Douglas fir forests , coastal dunes , mudflats and salt marshes . A few examples of plants that are endemic to

4992-497: The other areas in California. The Central Valley is also expanding in the number of people that coincide in that area, so it increases the number of cars which can also contribute to the amount of emission that is in the air. The northern Central Valley has a hot Mediterranean climate ( Köppen climate classification Csa ); the more southerly parts in rainshadow zones are dry enough to be Mediterranean steppe or even low-latitude desert ( BWh , as in areas around Bakersfield ). It

5070-498: The province and are also endangered species are: Agriculture and urban expansion are encroaching upon remaining habitats in the California Floristic Province. Commercial farming in the region generates half of all agricultural products consumed by the United States population. The large farms that grow from this demand cause the greater loss of the biodiversity hotspot's natural un-renewable resources. California has one of

5148-525: The risk of floods damaging properties increased greatly. The Great Flood of 1862 was the valley's worst flood in recorded history, flooding most of the valley and putting some places as much as 20 feet (6.1 m) under water. In 2003, it was determined that Sacramento had both the least protection against and nearly the highest risk of flooding. Congress then granted a $ 220 million loan for upgrades in Sacramento County. Other counties in

5226-652: The rivers, with many of them being part of the Central Valley Project . These dams impact physical, economic, cultural, and ecological resources: for example, enabling the development of its vast agricultural resources but leading to the loss of the Chinook salmon . Post-World War II demand for urban development, most notably the San Francisco Bay Area and the Los Angeles / Inland Empire / San Diego , required water resources. Moreover, agriculture in

5304-610: The southern Central Valley required far more water than was available locally. The Feather River in the Sacramento Valley was looked to as a water source, leading to the California State Water Project . This transports water to the southern San Joaquin Valley and urban areas south of the Tehachapi Mountains. Runoff from the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers is intercepted in the delta through

5382-524: The southern half of the San Joaquin Valley but occasionally to the Sacramento Valley . The northern half of the Central Valley receives greater precipitation than the semidesert southern half. Frost occurs at times in the fall months, but snow is extremely rare. Tule fog / ˈ t uː l iː / is a thick ground fog that settles along the valley's length. Tule fog forms during the late fall and winter (California's rainy season ), after

5460-400: The southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico. It is caused by the fungus Coccidioides immitis , which grows in soils in areas of low rainfall, high summer temperatures, and moderate winter temperatures. These fungal spores become airborne when the soil is disturbed by winds, construction, or farming. This illness frequently takes weeks or months to resolve. Occasionally Valley Fever

5538-408: The state capital Sacramento , as well as Redding , Chico , Stockton , Modesto , Merced , Fresno , Visalia , Porterville , and Bakersfield . The Central Valley watershed comprises 60,000 square miles (160,000 km ), or over a third of California. It consists of three main drainage systems: the Sacramento Valley in the north, which receives over 20 inches (510 mm) of rain annually;

5616-537: The state, rely on the water carried by these rivers. Sierra Nevada runoff provides one of California's largest water resources. The Sacramento River is the second largest river to empty into the Pacific from the contiguous United States , behind only the Columbia River and greater than the Colorado River . Combined with the fertile and expansive area of the Central Valley's floor, the Central Valley

5694-560: The valley have been categorized as the California interior chaparral and woodlands ecoregion. The dominant grass of the valley was Nassella pulchra mixed with other species, but today only 1% of the grassland in the valley is intact. Grassland flowers include California poppy ( Eschscholzia californica ), lupins , and purple owl's clover ( Castilleja exserta ), which can still be seen, especially in Antelope Valley in

5772-569: The valley include the endemic San Joaquin coachwhip snake ( Masticophis flagellum ruddocki ), blunt-nosed leopard lizard ( Gambelia sila ), Gilbert's skink ( Eumeces gilberti ) and the western aquatic garter snake ( Thamnophis couchii ). Endemic invertebrates are present. The Central Valley is home to endemic fish species, including the Sacramento pikeminnow , Sacramento perch , Sacramento blackfish , and Sacramento splittail . The Great Valley Grasslands State Park preserves an example of

5850-493: The valley that often face flooding are Yuba , Stanislaus , and San Joaquin . There is a very strong positive correlation between rainfall and slow-moving landslides in Northern California, especially in the Central Valley region. Changes in climate and precipitation levels have shown that consistent average rainfall has increased the number and intensity of landslides within the past 5–6 years. This information

5928-597: The valley's native grass habitat , while oak savanna habitats survive near Visalia . Areas of wetland and riverside woodland are found in the north, especially by the Sacramento River system, including the Nature Conservancy 's Cosumnes River Preserve just south of Sacramento, Gray Lodge Wildlife Area, Butte Sink Wildlife Management Area , and other patches in the delta area. Remaining vernal pools include Pixley National Wildlife Refuge between Tulare, California , and Bakersfield and Jepson Prairie Preserve in

6006-469: The “Central Valley”, many residents consider the Central Valley to consist of only the San Joaquin Valley . This is perhaps due to significant landscape and cultural differences between the two; the San Joaquin Valley is poorer and drier with more fertile soil, while the Sacramento Valley is wealthier and wetter with poorer soils. The major presence of the Sacramento River and its tributaries in

6084-456: Was shown in a study that focused on the behavior of these slow-moving landslides and how their nature changed with years of extreme average rainfall versus minimal average rainfall. In 2016, the average annual precipitation levels were lower because of a drought that was coming to an end at that time. The minimal rainfall in that year showed that 119 landslides had been moving. Comparatively, in 2017, there were very extreme levels of precipitation in

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