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64-701: The Santa Rosa Plateau Ecological Reserve preserves approximately 8,400 acres (34 km) of the plateau, and includes the Moreno and Machado Adobes, Riverside County’s oldest standing structures, and other buildings from the 19th century Mexican land grant Rancho Santa Rosa . The Santa Rosa Plateau is home to several native plant communities and habitats , including purple needlegrass prairie ( Nassella pulchra ), California oak woodland ( Engelmann Oaks — Quercus engelmannii ), montane chaparral , coastal sage scrub , and vernal pools , which are increasingly rare in urbanized Southern California . The Engelmann oak

128-799: A declaration of war by the United States of America . Action in California began with the taking of Monterey on July 7, 1846, Los Angeles in August, other battles in December, 1846, then retaking of Los Angeles in January, 1847, which terminated the authority and jurisdiction of Mexican officials later that year. Armed resistance ended in California with the Treaty of Cahuenga signed on January 13, 1847. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo , ending

192-452: A baby, its diet consists of milk the mother produces without the aid of water. After two to three weeks, its diet changes to food brought back to the nest and then regurgitated into the juvenile's mouth. By fall, Crawford's gray shrew is out of the nest and on its own. As an adult, its diet changes from the regurgitated food to intact food it kills itself. Crawford's gray shrew will eat lizards, small mice, and scorpions, but its main food source

256-481: A maximum of 160 acres (0.65 km ). Land from titles rejected by the courts became part of the public domain and available to homesteaders after the first federal Homestead Act of 1862 was passed, allowing anyone to claim up to 160 acres (0.65 km ). This resulted in additional pressure on Congress, and beginning with Rancho Suscol in 1863, it passed special acts that allowed certain claimants to pre-empt their land without regard to acreage. By 1866 this privilege

320-452: A mountain range. The 588 grants made by Spanish and Mexican authorities in California between 1769 and 1846 encompassed more than 8,850,000 acres (3,580,000 ha), or nearly 14,000 square miles (36,000 km ). The settlement of land titles was frequently complicated and lengthy. Even in cases where the boundaries were more specific, many markers had been destroyed before accurate surveys could be made. Aside from indefinite survey lines,

384-519: A portion of their land to pay for defense fees or gave attorneys land in lieu of payment. Rejected Spanish and Mexican land claims resulted in conflicting claims by the grantees, squatters, and settlers seeking the same land. This resulted in pressure on Congress to change the rules. Under the Preemption Act of 1841 , squatters were able to pre-empt others' claims to portions of the land and acquire clear title by paying $ 1.25 an acre for up to

448-412: Is a huge problem for this shrew, it has adapted by reducing two major causes of water loss. While breathing, Crawford's gray shrew inhales air warmed to body temperature and absorbs water vapor from the nasal walls. Exhaled air is cooled as the air is exiting, and the water vapor from the air condenses on the nasal passage. This keeps in more water than if the air were exhaled at body temperature. Water loss

512-410: Is a wide variety of arthropods . Since this shrew has a very high rate of metabolism , it will eat up to 75% of its body weight every day, and occasionally its full body weight. This can be dangerous since it can overheat the animal. The heat produced by metabolism and gained from its surrounding environment results in a high risk of overheating. The shrew spends energy at very fast pace. When resting,

576-964: Is also where they mate. They leave the water on a daily basis to bask, in order to regulate their body temperature. In southern California, pond turtle populations have declined 95-99%. The Reserve is one of only four to six reproductively viable populations of the Southwestern pond turtle in southern California. Snakes found on the Ecological Reserve include: San Bernardino ring-necked snake, Hammond's two-striped garter snake, coastal rosy boa, Western yellow-bellied racer, California striped racer, San Joaquin coachwhip, red diamond rattlesnake, Southern Pacific rattlesnake, San Diego gopher snake, California kingsnake. Other reptiles include: San Diego horned lizard, western fence lizard, granite spiny lizard, side-blotched lizard, western skink, western whiptail, San Diego alligator lizard. Amphibians found on

640-497: Is found meta-sedimentary rock, consisting of slates, argillites and some quartzite and limestone beds. Gabbro, consisting of feldspar, pyroxene and olivine, was laid down 143-101 million years ago. The granite on the Plateau arrived 119-105 million years ago. Arkosic sand and gravel was deposited by flowing water approximately 23-9 million years ago. Olivine basalt is from a lava flow of 9-6 million years ago. Lichen found on rocks on

704-437: Is reduced even more through respiration because it takes fewer breaths than other shrews and it has the lowest resting metabolic rate of all shrew species. Crawford's gray shrew, unlike most shrews, do not have access to an abundant water supply. To conserve the little water that shrews do absorb, they find shelter to protect them from the harsh external temperatures. Crawford's gray shrew does not construct its own burrows or use

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768-483: Is the tail, and it will only grow to a weight of about 3 to 5 g (0.11 to 0.18 oz). It is gray-brown with light gray under parts. The long tail is gray with it being lighter underneath. It has small, but relatively prominent, ears. A Crawford's gray shrew is born during the summer months to a litter size of three to six. When born, it is naked, pink and is about the same size as a honeybee . It grows rapidly and reaches its adult size in about four to five weeks. As

832-421: The urine . The urine is four times more concentrated than that of a human, thus saving a huge amount of water. This species also conserves water by being nocturnal, unlike other shrews, which hunt day and night to avoid starvation. To keep from losing any water from its victims, it will bite off the legs and then crush the prey's head so as not to kill it but to keep it fresh and unable to move. Since water loss

896-472: The 1970s and his death in 2004. Coates and his wife Nancy both expressed their wishes that the Rancho remain undeveloped. After her death in 2006, ownership of the land passed to their daughter, Theodate Coates, an artist from New York City. Despite her parents' wishes that development be kept off of the Rancho, she has taken steps to remove Rancho Guejito's status as an agricultural preserve and eventually develop

960-657: The California coast around San Francisco Bay, inland along the Sacramento River, and within the San Joaquin Valley. When the government secularized the Mission churches in 1833, it required that land be set aside from their holdings for each Neophyte (or converted) Indian family who had been living at the missions. But the Native Americans were quickly brushed aside by Californios who, with

1024-461: The Ecological Reserve include: coast range newt, garden slender salamander, black-bellied salamander, western spadefoot toad, Pacific treefrog, California red-legged frog, bullfrog. Bullfrogs are an invasive species, which because of their superior size, takes over territory from native species. The oldest rock seen on the Reserve is meta-volcanic rock, laid down 220-190 million years ago. Above that

1088-621: The Land Commission confirmed 604 of the 813 claims it reviewed, most decisions were appealed to US District Court and some to the Supreme Court . The confirmation process required lawyers, translators, and surveyors, and took an average of 17 years (including the Civil War , 1861–1865) to resolve. It proved expensive for landholders to defend their titles through the court system. In many cases, they had to sell or give title to

1152-497: The Land Commission had to determine whether the grantees had fulfilled the requirements of the Mexican colonization laws. Mexican officials often did not keep adequate records and sometimes did not provide grantees with any documentation of the grant. Many grants required additional approvals before they were legal. Conditions of the grant required the grantee to live on the land. All of these requirements were rarely fulfilled. While

1216-877: The Mexican War, was signed February 2, 1848 and California became a Territory of the United States. Between 1847 and 1849, California was run by the U.S. military. A constitutional convention met in Monterey in September 1849, and set up a state government. It operated for 10 months before California was admitted to the Union as the 31st State by the United States Congress , as part of the Compromise of 1850 , enacted on September 9, 1850. While

1280-481: The Mexican government in the 1880s. Rancho El Rosario , Rancho Cueros de Venado and Rancho Tecate were each granted to citizens of San Diego in the 1820s or 1830s and lay wholly in what is now Baja California as was the Rancho San Antonio Abad , whose origin and title is more obscure. Their titles were never subjected to dispute in U.S. courts. The rancheros became land-rich and cash-poor, and

1344-448: The Mexican state of Tamaulipas , and N. evotis distributed along the northwest coast of Mexico , were named. A fourth distinct species, N. cockrumi , was discovered in the U.S. state of Arizona and named in 2004. Crawford's gray shrew is one of the smallest desert mammals and one of the world's smallest homeotherms . When fully grown, it will only grow to a size of about 1.5 to 2 in (3.8 to 5.1 cm) long, half of which

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1408-597: The Plateau. However, they were not allowed to bunk with the other cowboys and had to live off the ranch. 33°32′36″N 117°16′10″W  /  33.54336°N 117.26952°W  / 33.54336; -117.26952 Ranchos of California In Alta California (now known as California ) and Baja California , ranchos were concessions and land grants made by the Spanish and Mexican governments from 1775 to 1846. The Spanish Concessions of land were made to retired soldiers as an inducement for them to settle in

1472-523: The Plateau. The midden found at the village suggests it had been occupied for approximately 6,000 years. When visiting the adobes, one can see indentations in boulders used by the Native Americans to grind acorns and other food. Before the arrival of Spanish missionaries, the indigenous peoples of Southern California lived in bands, each of which controlled its own territory. The bands interacted with each other through ceremonial exchanges, marriages and trade. Their territories included acorn gathering sites in

1536-443: The Reserve include species from genera Fruticose, Squamulose, Foliose, and Crustose. Common species found on large rock outcroppings include common greenshield lichen , beaded rosette lichen, sunken disk lichen and rim lichen . Lichen are a symbiotic relationship between various species of fungus, which provide the structure, and algae, which provide the organism's nutrients. The first Native Americans are thought to have inhabited

1600-1292: The Reserve to see is the Chocolate Lily . It is most often seen in April on the slopes of the Coronado Plateau (the area of the vernal pools). As the vernal pools start to evaporate, flowers grow in concentric circles around them. The most common flower around the vernal pools is the California poppy . The Reserve is known to be home to 27 species of mammal. This includes 12 species of rodents. The mammals include: badger , California myotis , coyote , gray fox , bobcat , mountain lion , California mule deer , opossum , black-tailed jackrabbit , desert cottontail , raccoon , brush mouse , cactus mouse , California ground squirrel , California mouse , California pocket mouse , California vole , deer mouse , desert woodrat , dusky-footed woodrat , Pacific kangaroo rat , pocket gopher , western harvest mouse , gray shrew , striped skunk , long-tailed weasel . Most mammals are nocturnal and so are seldom seen by visitors. However, ground squirrels are diurnal and are regularly seen. Coyotes are probably

1664-600: The Santa Rosa Plateau Nature Education Foundation, provides funding for field trips to the Reserve for all third-graders in the area. The Reserve is home to many species of flowers. In one month, March 1998, 50 different wildflowers were reported in bloom. The best time to view the flowers is in the spring and the best trail for flowers at this time is the Vernal Pool Trail. The one flower people come specifically to

1728-542: The Southwestern pond turtle. They are on the list of Species of Special Concern. They are not allowed to be taken from their habitat. The longest turtles found on the Reserve are approximately five and a half inches. When they are wet, they are dark, making it easy for them to blend in with the mud at the bottom of ponds. They have webbed feet for efficient swimming and claws, which are used for digging nests, tearing meat, and during courtship. They mainly feed on aquatic invertebrates. They spend most of their lives underwater, which

1792-480: The area for more than 8,000 years. The Native Americans known as Luiseño , due to their connection to the San Luis Rey Mission , began to inhabit the area about 1,500 years ago. It is thought they only used the Plateau during the warm weather months, and to collect acorns in the fall. During the rest of the year they lived in the nearby Temecula Valley . They had a village called Meha near the ranch on

1856-623: The average shrew's heart rate is at about 1000 bit/s (beats per minute). In its respiratory rate, that is 800 breaths per minute. The breeding season of the Crawford's gray shrew ranges from the spring to the fall to year-round. About three weeks after mating, the female shrew will give birth to three to five offspring. The Crawford's gray shrew has poor vision, so it uses its highly sensitive ears and long nose to hunt down its prey. It will also use an echolocation , similar to bats, with high-pitched squeaks to locate prey. The shrews store food during

1920-400: The black-chinned hummingbird is common in the spring and into the summer. If you hear a knocking on wood, it's probably an acorn woodpecker. Although, if it's followed by what sounds like a laugh, it may be a northern flicker. If you hear a commotion in the bushes, it may just be a rufous-sided towhee scratching through the leaf litter for insects and other invertebrates. The reserve is home to

1984-501: The boundaries of existing pueblos. The grantee was required to build a stone house and to keep at least 2,000 head of stock on each rancho. During the Mexican era (1821–1846), grantees received legal title to the land. In 1821, Mexico achieved its independence from Spain, and California came under control of the Mexican government. The 1824 Mexican Colony Law established rules for petitioning for land grants in California; and by 1828,

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2048-807: The boundaries of the ranchos, and many of their names are still in use. For example, Rancho San Diego is now an unincorporated "rural-burb" east of San Diego , and Rancho Bernardo is a suburb in San Diego. Before 1754, only the Spanish Crown could grant lands in Alta California. For several years, the Franciscan missionaries were the only beneficiaries of this policy. Spanish laws allowed four square leagues of land (one league being approximately 4,428 acres (1,792 ha)) to be granted to newly-formed settlements, or pueblos. Settlement on

2112-507: The burden of attempting to defend their claims was often financially overwhelming. Grantees lost their lands as a result of mortgage default, payment of attorney fees, or payment of other personal debts. Land was also lost as a result of fraud. A sharp decline in cattle prices, the Great Flood of 1862 , and droughts of 1863–1864 also forced many of the overextended rancheros to sell their properties to Americans. They often quickly subdivided

2176-408: The burden of proof of title on landholders. Grantees were required to prove the validity of the grants they had received and establish their exact boundaries. The diseños (maps) available were often hand-drawn and imprecise. Land had until the gold rush been of little value and boundary locations were often quite vague, referring to an oak tree, a cow skull on a pile of rocks, a creek, and in some cases

2240-633: The end of the 1840s saw the close of Mexican control over Alta California, this period also marked the beginning of the rancheros' greatest prosperity. Cattle had been raised primarily for their hides and tallow, as there was no market for large quantities of beef, especially in the days prior to refrigeration, railroads or ice production. Demand dramatically changed with the onset of the Gold Rush , as thousands of miners and other fortune seekers flooded into northern California. These newcomers needed meat, and cattle prices soared with demand. The rancheros enjoyed

2304-580: The frontier. These Concessions reverted to the Spanish crown upon the death of the recipient. After independence, the Mexican government encouraged settlement in these areas by issuing much larger land grants to both native-born and naturalized Mexican citizens. The grants were usually two or more square leagues , or 35 square kilometres (14 sq mi) in size. Unlike Spanish Concessions, Mexican land grants provided permanent, unencumbered ownership rights. Most ranchos granted by Mexico were located along

2368-600: The governor. Soldiers, rancheros, farmers, and those in power coveted the rich coastal lands that the missions controlled. The Mexican government was also fearful about the missions which remained loyal to the Pope and the Catholic Church in Spain . In August 1833, the government secularized all of the missions and their valuable lands, about 1,000,000 acres (400,000 ha) per mission. The Mexican government allowed

2432-562: The halcyon days of Hispanic California. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo provided that the Mexican land grants would be honored. To investigate and confirm titles in California, American officials acquired the provincial records of the Spanish and Mexican governments in Monterey. The new state's leaders soon discovered that the Mexican government had given a number of grants just before the Americans gained control. The Mexican governors had rewarded faithful supporters, and hoped to prevent

2496-574: The help of those in power, acquired the church lands as grants. The Indigenous peoples of the Americas ("Indians"), landless, became virtual slaves of the rancheros. Spain made about 30 concessions between 1784 and 1821. Mexico issued about 270 land grants between 1833 and 1846. The ranchos established permanent land-use patterns. The rancho boundaries became the basis for California's land survey system, and are found on modern maps and land titles. The "rancheros" (rancho owners) patterned themselves after

2560-429: The high expense of fencing large grazing tracts or selling their cattle at ruinous prices. The ranchos established land-use patterns that are still recognizable in contemporary California. Many communities still retain their Spanish rancho name. For example, Rancho Peñasquitos , the first land grant by the Spanish in today's San Diego County, is now a suburb within the city of San Diego. Modern communities often follow

2624-545: The interior or sought work on the new ranchos along with the troops formerly assigned to each mission. They sometimes congregated at rancherías (living areas near a hacienda) where an indigenous Spanish and mestizo culture developed. By 1846, the mission lands and its cattle had passed into the hands of 800 private landowners called rancheros. They collectively owned 8,000,000 acres (3,200,000 ha) of land, in units ranging in size from 4,500 acres (1,800 ha) to 50,000 acres (20,000 ha). They primarily produced hides for

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2688-547: The land and sold it to new settlers, who began farming individual plots. A shift in the economic dominance of grain farming over cattle raising was marked by the passage of the California "No-Fence Law" of 1874. This repealed the Trespass Act of 1850, which had required farmers to protect their planted fields from free-ranging cattle. The repeal of the Trespass Act required that ranchers fence stock in, rather than farmers fencing cattle out. The ranchers were faced with either

2752-413: The land into tract housing . Crawford%27s gray shrew Crawford's gray shrew ( Notiosorex crawfordi ), also known as the desert shrew , is a small shrew found in the southwestern United States and northern Mexico . It is a member of the family Soricidae of the order Eulipotyphla . It was the only known member of the genus Notiosorex until two species, N. villai distributed in

2816-462: The land passed through several hands before being purchased by John Deer of England. After him the land went to his son, Parker Dear. It is said that Parker Dear treated his Native American help like slaves and they would sometimes run away. In 1904 Walter Vail purchased the land, mainly to raise cattle. When he died, the land went to his son, Mahlon Vail. Mahlon is said to have respected Native American rights to harvest acorns, gather wood and hunt on

2880-419: The land was to be divided into communal pasture, a town plot, and individual plots intended for each Indian family. In addition, one half of the herds were to be divided proportionately among the neophyte families. But this purpose was never accomplished. In truth, only a very few Indians of Alta California were educationally or culturally equipped to accept the offering. Instead, they were further exploited by

2944-408: The landed gentry of New Spain, and were primarily devoted to raising cattle and sheep. Their workers included Native Americans who had learned Spanish while living and working at one of the former missions . The ranchos were often based on access to resources necessary for raising cattle, such as water and adequate grazing lands and water. Land development from that time forward has often followed

3008-544: The last of the San Diego Ranchos to be undeveloped. Only a few historic structures and an 8,000 square feet (740 m ) ranch house, built in the 1970s, occupy the 13,300 acres (5,400 ha). Benjamin Coates purchased the land in the 1970s after Governor Jerry Brown vetoed a purchase that would have made Guejito a state park . Coates purchased an additional 8,700 acres (3,500 ha) of surrounding land between

3072-455: The mountains. The acorns they liked the best were from the black oak, which only grows above 3,000 feet. In the winter these bands would move to the coast. In 1798, the mission fathers of San Diego decided there should be a mission between there and San Juan Capistrano . Thus was formed mission San Luis Rey de Francia. Native Americans that fell under the jurisdiction of this new mission were all labeled Luiseño. When Spanish rule ended in 1822,

3136-455: The new Mexican government decreed that mission lands would be secularized. In California this did not happen until 1834. It was during this period that the plateau received its name, probably in honor of Saint Rose of Lima . In 1846, Juan Moreno was granted 47,000 acres by the Mexican governor of California, Pio Pico . In 1855, Moreno sold Rancho Santa Rosa to Augustin Machado. After he died,

3200-587: The new immigrants from gaining control of the land. Sponsored by California Senator William M. Gwin , in 1851 Congress passed "An Act to Ascertain and Settle Private Land Claims in the State of California". The Act required all holders of Spanish and Mexican land grants to present their titles for confirmation before the Board of California Land Commissioners . Contrary to the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, this Act placed

3264-658: The next rainy season allows them to hatch. (6) The Santa Rosa Plateau Ecological Reserve was assembled in several stages; two parcels, comprising 3,100 acres (13 km), were purchased by The Nature Conservancy in 1984. The intervening parcels were purchased in the 1990s by the State of California , the Riverside County Regional Park and Open-Space District , and the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California . Although

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3328-433: The night so they don't have to go out during the day. When threatened, the gray shrew can emit a musky odor that makes it seem less appetizing to mammalian predators. Because of its diet, the Crawford's gray shrew must expel a large amount of nitrogenous waste from its body, which has a potential for a large loss of water when urinating. However, it is able to reduce water loss from urine, as well, by concentrating urea in

3392-418: The ones made by other animals. Instead, it builds small nests in pack rat houses or under dead agaves . Even with all of these adaptations to help it survive in the harsh environment of the desert, Crawford gray shrew only lives for a relatively short period (about a year or so in the wild). Since it hunts at night, Crawford's gray shrew is susceptible to nocturnal hunters, such as snakes and owls . As

3456-470: The original boundaries of the rancho, based on geographic features and abstract straight lines. Today, most of the original rancho land grants have been dismantled and sold off to become suburbs and rural-burbs. A very small number of ranchos are still owned by descendants of the original owners, retain their original size, or remain undeveloped. Rancho Guejito in San Diego County is considered

3520-424: The padres to keep only the church, priest's quarters, and priest's garden. The army troops guarding each Mission were dismissed. The government stipulated that one half the mission lands and property was to be given to neophytes in grants of 33 acres (13 ha) of arable land along with land "in common" sufficient "to pasture their stock." A board of magistrates was to oversee the mission's crops and herds, while

3584-568: The parcels remain under the ownership of separate agencies, they are managed cooperatively, with biological resource management, which includes prescribed fire and habitat restoration programs managed by the Nature Conservancy, and visitor management. This includes operation of a visitor center and a 40-mile (60 km) trail system, managed by the Riverside County Parks (RivCo Parks). A non-profit organization,

3648-517: The rancheros and in many cases became virtual slaves. Most mission property was bought by government officials or their wealthy friends, local Californios , individuals of Mexican or Spanish descent who had been born in Alta California. The number of Mexican land grants greatly increased after secularization . The former Mission Indians, freed from forced labor on the missions, but without land of their own, and their former way of life destroyed, often had few choices. Some lived with Indian tribes in

3712-574: The ranchos outside presidio , mission, and pueblo boundaries began in 1784. Private individuals applied to the Governor for grants and he issued a few written temporary permits. The Spanish crown retained title. In 1784, Juan José Domínguez received permission from Spanish Governor Pedro Fages to graze his cattle on the 48,000-acre (190 km ) Rancho San Pedro . Two years later the governor received authority to grant tracts not exceeding three square leagues, as long as they did not conflict with

3776-704: The resulting ' diseño ', a rough, hand-drawn relief map, often only vaguely defined the boundary lines. The grantee could not initially subdivide or rent the land. It had to be used for grazing or cultivation. A residence had to be built within a year—most were initially simple adobe-walled cabins. Public roads crossing through the property must remain open. The survey and residence requirements could not be enforced. The poorly funded and relatively unorganized government had little interest in land that brought in no taxes. The government instead collected revenue from tariffs assessed on cargo arriving at Monterey, California . The Mexican–American War began on May 13, 1846 with

3840-527: The rules for establishing land grants were codified in the Mexican Reglamento (Regulation). The Acts sought to break the land monopoly of the missions and also paved the way for luring additional settlers to California by making land grants easier to obtain. The Mexican governors of Alta California gained the power to grant state lands, and many of the Spanish concessions were subsequently patented under Mexican law—frequently to local "friends" of

3904-414: The second most common seen, then mule deer. There have been at least 185 species of bird spotted on the Reserve. Among the larger birds, the mallard, black-shouldered kite, Cooper's hawk, red-shouldered hawk, golden eagle and American kestrel are known to nest on the site. The barn owl and great-horned owl have also had their nestings confirmed. Anna's hummingbird are found year around on the Reserve while

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3968-410: The world leather market and largely relied on Indian labor. Bound to the rancho by peonage , the Native Americans were treated as slaves. The Native Americans who worked on the ranchos died at twice the rate that of southern slaves. The boundaries of the Mexican ranchos were provisional. The new owner was required to complete a legal survey that established and marked the boundaries. Even if completed,

4032-474: Was extended to all owners of rejected claims. A number of ranchos remained in whole or in part in the sliver of territory of Alta California left to Mexico by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which then became part of Baja California . Rancho Tía Juana (partially in San Diego County, California) lost its claim to title to its land in San Diego County but the balance of the rancho was confirmed by

4096-409: Was once widespread throughout the western U.S. Now the farthest north they are found is Pasadena . The Reserve has the only protected, reproducing Engelmanns in the states. A vernal pool is a shallow depression in the soil which fills up with water during spring rains. Fairy shrimp and other minute crustaceans hatch during this time and lay eggs. These eggs remain dormant during the dry months until

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