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65-880: The pact between the Tejon Ranch Company and a coalition of environmental groups, announced in May 2008, is designed to permanently protect 240,000 acres (970 km) of the ranch, including a vast amount outside the borders of the Tejon Mountain Village subdivision. Now approved by Kern County, but a matter of debate for years in the Mountain Communities of the Tejon Pass , the development would include homes, commercial buildings, hotels, and golf courses. Tejon Mountain Village would be

130-421: A 5,082-acre (20.57 km) gated community amid 26,417 acres of Tejon Ranch property. It would include two golf courses, 3,450 homes, a 160,000-square-foot (15,000 m)-shopping center near Interstate 5 , two heliports, and a maximum of 750 hotel rooms. Houses and apartments would be grouped in small enclaves around the lake and on the level tops of surrounding ridges. Larger lot custom homes would rise from

195-725: A budget of $ 10,000, along with a part-time clerk and space at the supervisor's office in Frazier Park. It would cover only the Kern County part of the Mountain Communities. Watson responded to a query from The Mountain Enterprise that I am opposed to any new layer of government that adds significant costs and bureaucracy. … The idea of a municipal advisory committee or perhaps some other local representative would be strictly advisory. Ultimately, decisions for

260-903: A large degree with income: Thirty-one percent of Pine Mountain Club residents had bachelor's degrees or higher, compared to 22 percent in Lake of the Woods, 15 percent in Frazier Park and 12 percent in Lebec. But Pine Mountain Club had the highest percentage of people whose incomes were below the poverty level — 17 percent (193 people), with Lake of the Woods following at 14 percent (119 people), Frazier Park at 12 percent (291 people) and Lebec last at eight percent (100 people). The utilization by Mountain Community property owners of residences as second homes, vacation homes or seasonal rental properties can be shown by

325-505: A letter to Kern County Planners that Robinson "isn't the tribal chairman." And Laer Pierce, a spokesman for the Tejon project, said that a Tejon-Sebastian native reservation existed only between 1853 and 1864, when the reservation was "dissolved by Congress." On January 24, 2011, Federal court Judge Oliver Wanger ruled against Robinson, an instructional technician at California State University, Bakersfield . Native American spokesmen said

390-847: A senior regional representative, told the New York Times in 2008. He said, "There is no other place like this in California. It offers an unparalleled and irreplaceable connection between the Sierra Nevada and the Coast Ranges and the high desert ." A coalition led by the Natural Resources Defense Council , the Sierra Club, Audubon California, the Planning and Conservation League , and

455-642: A subsequent community meeting to explain "how to navigate the data to make effective comments." "We believe this project has been thoroughly reviewed," Oviatt later told the Bakersfield Californian . 34°50′09″N 118°50′36″W  /  34.8359°N 118.8433°W  / 34.8359; -118.8433 Mountain Communities of the Tejon Pass The Mountain Communities of the Tejon Pass , or

520-697: Is based on vacant housing units of any type in March 2000. Some figures have been rounded. As unincorporated areas, the Mountain Communities have no local government, but they were served by the volunteer Mountain Communities Town Council, formed in 1995 "to provide a stronger local voice in community development" and to be "a liaison between various government agencies and the community at large." The first officers were Bob Anderson, president; Fred Rose, vice president; Richard Haugh, treasurer, and Ana Soares, secretary. The highest number of votes cast

585-584: Is common in winter for cool unstable air masses from the Gulf of Alaska to make landfall in one of the Coast Ranges, resulting in heavy precipitation , both as rain and snow , especially on their western slopes. The same Winter weather occurs with less frequency and precipitation in Southern California, with the mountains' western faces and peaks causing an eastward rainshadow that produces

650-648: The California Air Resources Board lent it equipment to test air quality in Lebec. The Town Council voted to dissolve itself, with its last meeting held on October 16, 2008. At that time, the council decided to bring the matter of a municipal advisory council — or MAC — before Watson again. Rose thereupon sent a letter to Watson on behalf of a "Mountain Communities MAC/CSD Working Group" for establishment of an elected municipal advisory council , or MAC, with

715-549: The Endangered Habitat League worked with the Tejon Ranch Company to develop a program that, if carried out, would conserve 90 percent of the entire Tejon Ranch. In return, the coalition agreed it would not oppose the company's plans to build Tejon Mountain Village and another big development, Centennial , in northwestern Los Angeles County. D. Adam Lazar, attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity, told

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780-904: The Frazier Mountain Communities, in the San Emigdio Mountains is a region of California that includes Lebec , Frazier Park , Lake of the Woods , Pinon Pines , and Pine Mountain Club , in Kern County , Gorman in Los Angeles County and Lockwood Valley within Kern and Ventura counties. They are all within or near the Tejon Pass , which links Southern California with the San Joaquin Valley . Also sometimes included within

845-680: The Great Basin mountain ranges , and other ranges and various plateaus and basins. The Pacific Coast Ranges designation, however, only applies to the Western System of the Western Cordillera, which comprises the Saint Elias Mountains , Coast Mountains , Insular Mountains , Olympic Mountains , Cascade Range , Oregon Coast Range , California Coast Ranges , Transverse Ranges , Peninsular Ranges , and

910-707: The Gulf of California . Although many of the ranges do share a common geologic history, the Pacific Coast Ranges province is not defined by geology, but rather by geography. Many of the various ranges are composed of distinct forms of rock from many different periods of geological time from the Precambrian in parts of the Little San Bernardino Mountains to 10,000-year-old rock in the Cascade Range. For one example,

975-705: The Mojave (High) , and Sonoran (Low) Deserts, i.e. the Pacific Border province . The same term is used informally in Canada to refer to the Coast Mountains and adjoining inland ranges such as the Hazelton Mountains , and sometimes also the Saint Elias Mountains . The character of the ranges varies considerably, from the record-setting tidewater glaciers in the ranges of Alaska, to

1040-600: The Pacific Mountain System in the United States ; French : chaînes côtières du Pacifique ; Spanish : cadena costera del Pacífico ) are the series of mountain ranges that stretch along the West Coast of North America from Alaska south to Northern and Central Mexico . Although they are commonly thought to be the westernmost mountain range of the continental United States and Canada,

1105-725: The Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers' San Francisco Bay , the Santa Clara River 's Oxnard Plain , the Los Angeles, San Gabriel, and Santa Ana Rivers' Los Angeles Basin  – a coastal sediment-filled plain between the peninsular and transverse ranges with sediment in the basin up to 6 miles (10 km) deep, and the San Diego River's Mission Bay . From the vicinity of San Francisco Bay north, it

1170-509: The San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District . Two Planning Commissioners voted against the plan at the commission's September 10, 2009, meeting. One of them cited the "scale" of the undertaking, saying that "I can't help but feel that this isn't a plan that benefits the existing communities of Lebec and Frazier Park," and attorney Keats of the Center for Biological Diversity compared

1235-914: The Sierra Madre Occidental . The term Coast Range is used by the United States Geological Survey to refer only to the ranges south of the Strait of Juan de Fuca in Washington to the California-Mexico border , and to those west of Puget Sound , the Willamette Valley , and the Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys (the California Central Valley ). That definition excludes the Sierra Nevada and Cascade Ranges ,

1300-684: The "commercial amenities." The property will be developed by a new entity, Tejon Mountain Village LLC . Originally a joint enterprise with DMB Associates of Scottsdale, Arizona, the Tejon Ranch Company bought out its partner in July 2014. A coalition of environmentalists, Native Americans and local residents, including the Center for Biological Diversity , filed a lawsuit in Kern County Superior Court on November 12, 2009, to halt

1365-718: The "corporate greed" of Wall Street, "which owns this company" to the drive to develop Tejon Mountain Village for the "helicopter playboys" who would live there. Support for the project came from representatives of the Mountain Communities Chamber of Commerce, the Mountain Shakespeare Festival, the Kern County Board of Trade, and the Greater Bakersfield Chamber of Commerce. A federal court suit

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1430-597: The 270,000 acres comprising the Tejon Ranch was rejected by the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in June 2015. Among other things, the three-judge panel rejected the tribe’s complaints of alleged forgery and deception in obtaining patents for the four Mexican land grants comprising Tejon Ranch. It says the tribe could not challenge the validity of land patents after more than a century of time had passed. In its decision,

1495-419: The Kern County Board of Supervisors, with the first members to be Stacy Havener of Pine Mountain, Linda MacKay of Lebec, Steve Newman of Cuddy Valley, Robert Peterson of Lebec, and Anne Weber of Frazier Park. In 2013 the organization, dubbed MCMAC, contained 4,370 registered voters among the area's 8,384 Kern County residents. Few local residents, however, attended the council's meetings. MacKay resigned from

1560-426: The Mountain Communities will lie with the elected Supervisor, whoever that is." On February 23, 2009, an open meeting of about 75 people was held in Frazier Park under the control of Supervisor Watson. A poll by show of hands revealed about 40 in favor of a MAC, 7 opposed, and 20 undecided, with others not voting. On August 14, 2009, Watson announced he would recommend the formation of a Municipal Advisory Council to

1625-632: The Peninsular Ranges, composed of Mesozoic batholitic rock, are geologically extremely different from the San Bernardino Mountains , composed of a mix of Precambrian metamorphic rock and Cenozoic sedimentary rock. However, both are considered part of the Pacific Coast Ranges due to their proximity and similar economic and social impact on surrounding communities. These are the members of the Pacific Coast Ranges, from north to south: These are not named as ranges, but amount to

1690-846: The Southern California coast the Channel Islands archipelago of the Santa Monica Mountains extends for 160 miles (260 km). There are coastal plains at the mouths of rivers that have punched through the mountains spreading sediments, most notably at the Copper River in Alaska, the Fraser River in British Columbia, and the Columbia River between Washington and Oregon. In California:

1755-586: The Superintendent of Indian Affairs for California, Edward Beale, from that same year. Adam Keats, an attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity, said he believed the county had violated the California Environmental Quality Act , or CEQA, with a "rushed public hearing process." And Patric Hedlund, the editor of a local weekly newspaper, The Mountain Enterprise , wrote that the draft environmental impact report on

1820-493: The Woods, and 79 percent in Lebec. Latinos or Hispanics of any race amounted to 20 percent in Lebec, 12 percent in Frazier Park, 11 percent in Lake of the Woods, and nine percent in Pine Mountain Club. Reported yearly incomes for each person in the labor force were $ 25,465 (in 1999 dollars) in Pine Mountain Club, $ 19,302 in Frazier Park, $ 17,983 in Lake of the Woods, and $ 14,895 in Lebec. Pine Mountain Club also had

1885-446: The Woods. There were 3,931 housing units — houses, apartments, trailers, etc. — of which only 2,392 were occupied. The area's residents were older than the U.S. median — which was 35.3 years of age at the time. Pine Mountain Club was the "oldest" community — the median age being 45 and 15 percent of the residents being older than 65. Lake of the Woods's median age was 39, with 14 percent of its population over 65, Frazier Park's median age

1950-795: The accretion of the Siletzia terrane began in the Pacific Northwest. This began the volcanic activity in the Cascadia subduction zone , forming the modern Cascade Range, and lasted into the Miocene . Events here may relate to the ignimbrite flare-up of the southern Basin and Range . As extension in the Basin and Range Province slowed by a change in North American Plate movement circa 7 to 8 Million years ago, rifting began on

2015-432: The arid desert regions . Omitted from the list below, but often included is the Sierra Nevada, a major mountain range of eastern California that is separated by the Central Valley over much of its length from the California Coast Ranges and the Transverse Ranges. On the West coast of North America, the coast ranges and the coastal plain form the margin. Most of the land is made of terranes that have been accreted onto

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2080-555: The body after five months, saying that it had been "hijacked" by Watson to be a rubber stamp and that she was appointed for "token diversity." Watson appointed nobody to fill MacKay's seat. The people of the mountain communities began to boycott the meetings. The MCMAC often met to empty rooms: four people talked to each other and empty chairs for nearly three years. In April 2012, however, both candidates to succeed Watson—David Couch and Harley Pinson—each said he favored an elected Mountain Communities Advisory Council, and after Couch won

2145-401: The communities are Cuddy Valley , Grapevine , Neenach and New Cuyama . Although the communities are divided among three counties (four, if New Cuyama, which is in Santa Barbara County , is included), they are tied together by the local newspaper, the Mountain Enterprise , the Mountain Communities Chamber of Commerce , and the Ridge Route Communities Museum and Historical Society . All

2210-466: The communities are unincorporated areas , and all are served by their respective county agencies, such as sheriff's departments and county fire departments. The source for this section is the U.S. Census Bureau, American FactFinder. A total of 6,066 people lived within the four areas of the Mountain Communities that were distinguished in the March 2000 U.S. census — 2,348 in Frazier Park, 1,600 in Pine Mountain Club, 1,285 in Lebec, and 833 in Lake of

2275-417: The country as a whole — nine percent. The vacancies correlated with the elevation of the communities — 5,554 feet for Pine Mountain Club, 5,121 feet for Lake of the Woods, 4,767 feet for Frazier Park, and 3,481 feet for Lebec. Elevation generally corresponds to snow levels in the winter. Lebec had the highest valuation of single-family owner-occupied homes. The median, as identified by the census respondents,

2340-401: The county's Board of Supervisors at its October 5, 2009, hearing that there would not be enough water for the project since it was completely dependent on the California State Water Project , which brings water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta . But Ernest Conant, attorney for the Tejon Castac Water District Board, replied that some analyses had considered what might happen if supplies from

2405-423: The county's granting a 30-year permit to complete the development instead of the standard 10 years, the developers agreed to fund six community endeavors: Principal objections in the county approval process concerned the effects on wildlife, lack of sufficient water, glare from lights, air pollution, and damage to the existing community. Tejon Ranch, which is the largest contiguous parcel of privately owned land in

2470-404: The court reached back through the history of the multiple failures of Congress and Presidents to ratify agreements with Indian tribes in the 1850s. The Kawaiisu Tribe alleges that the Tejon/Sebastian Reservation was created pursuant to the Act of 1853, pointing to a letter from President Franklin Pierce to the Secretary of the Interior, Robert McClelland, and a subsequent letter from the Secretary to

2535-399: The development would ruin the dark skies of "a prime tourism area for amateur astronomers," county planner Lorelei Oviatt proposed and read into the record that the forthcoming Dark Sky Society model ordinance to control such pollution be adopted for the project. Residents who complained about the risk of increased air pollution were told by Oviatt that such concerns "had been addressed" by

2600-425: The development. Federal Judge Cormac J. Carney in December 2020 rejected a suit by opponents alleging that the development proposal should have recognized the California condor as a "traditional cultural property" deserving special protection. The Tejon Ranch Conservancy that same year filed a suit alleging that the Tejon Ranch Company had stopped making the agreed payments; the company countersued. In return for

2665-415: The development. The suit claimed the construction would threaten the California condor and negatively affect sacred Chumash sites, degrade air quality, and add traffic to nearby Interstate 5 . On November 5, 2010, Kern County Superior Court Judge Kenneth Twisselman ruled in favor of Kern County, Tejon Mountain Village and its development partner, DMB Associates. The Center for Biological Diversity appealed

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2730-446: The election, the remaining four council members resigned. The town council never returned to the area. In June 2020 a new town council was organizing with the intention of uniting the community and saving many local businesses and community development programs. A community roads district is one of the goals. Making Main Street Frazier Park an arts and entertainment district is another. The El Tejon Unified School District serves

2795-421: The entire mountain community: Lockwood Valley is part of the district even though it is within Ventura County, and Gorman students are accepted into the high school by special permit. Frazier Park Elementary School educates children in kindergarten through third grade. El Tejon Middle School in Lebec takes district students from the fourth through the eighth grade. Frazier Mountain High School , also in Lebec,

2860-410: The fact that 62 percent of the 1,737 Pine Mountain Club houses (1,069) were vacant in March 2000 when the census was taken. In Lake of the Woods, the vacancies were 27 percent (or 129 of 475 housing units); Frazier Park, with 23 percent (or 281 of 1,203 units) and in Lebec, there were only 60 vacancies of 516 units, or 12 percent. All those figures in these mountainous communities were higher than that for

2925-410: The geologically distinct Insular Mountains of Vancouver Island lie farther west. The Pacific Coast Ranges are part of the North American Cordillera (sometimes known as the Western Cordillera, or in Canada , as the Pacific Cordillera and/or the Canadian Cordillera), which includes the Rocky Mountains , the Columbia Mountains , the Interior Mountains , the Interior Plateau , the Sierra Nevada ,

2990-504: The highest household and family incomes (at a median of $ 45,250 and $ 62,750, respectively), Frazier Park was next with $ 40,721 and $ 46,857, Lake of the Woods showed $ 42,742 and $ 43,468, and Lebec trailed with $ 39,063 and $ 40,972. To measure the income of a household, the pre-tax money receipts of all residents over the age of 15 over a single year were combined. Family income measured households with two or more people related through blood, marriage, or adoption. Educational levels correlated to

3055-423: The land and the tribe's pain and suffering. David Laughing Horse Robinson, who said he was an elder of the tribe of Native Americans , claimed in an e-mail that Tejon Ranch did not own the land beneath the proposed project. He said in a video later posted on Youtube.com that the land was "stolen." His claim was countered a few days later by Julie Turner, secretary of the Kern Valley Indian Community, who said in

3120-409: The local newspaper, The Mountain Enterprise , it "received a chilly response." Rose said that Watson rejected a proposal to establish an elected municipal advisory council as allowed by state law. During the 2004-2009 period, the council held a number of forums, which attracted more than a thousand people considering subjects ranging from wildfire evacuations to land-development proposals. In 2007,

3185-417: The margin. In the north, the insular belt is an accreted terrane, forming the margin. This belt extends from the Wrangellia Terrane in Alaska to the Chilliwack group of Canada. A rupture in Rodinia 750 million years ago formed a passive margin in the eastern Pacific Northwest. The breakup of Pangea 200 million years ago began the westward movement of the North American plate, creating an active margin on

3250-439: The more remote hilltops in the northwest and northeast sections of the development area. Buildings would be designed to fit into the existing land rather than the land being molded to fit the buildings. Residential lots would range in size from 6,700 square feet (620 m) to more than 20 acres (81,000 m). There would be two heliports, two 18-hole golf courses, and about 320,000 square feet (30,000 m) of support space for

3315-457: The occupied residences, Pine Mountain Club, which is a private community , had the highest ratio of owner-occupied units — 84 percent, followed by Frazier Park and Lebec, each with 70 percent, and Lake of the Woods, 69 percent. The rest were occupied by renters. Notes: "Native Americans" includes Alaska natives. "Family income" is median family income in 1999 dollars. "Med. home value" is the median value of single-family houses. The "vacancy rate"

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3380-434: The project troubled them. Chumash ceremonial leader Mat Waiya said that Tejon Ranch had disturbed Indian cultural sites in the early 2000s but that the ranch had followed protocols since then. The developer has now agreed to provide a 2,500-square-foot (230 m) facility in the commercial center for a museum that could serve as a repository for artifacts. The claim by the Kawaiisu Tribe of Tejon that tried to assert title to

3445-457: The rugged Central and Southern California ranges, the Transverse Ranges and Peninsular Ranges , in the chaparral and woodlands eco-region with Oak Woodland , Chaparral shrub forest or Coastal sage scrub -covering them. The coastline is often seen dropping steeply into the sea with photogenic views. Along the British Columbia and Alaska coast, the mountains intermix with the sea in a complex maze of fjords , with thousands of islands. Off

3510-454: The ruling to California's Fifth District Court of Appeal in Fresno on February 9, 2011. It was joined by the TriCounty Watchdogs, the Wishtoyo Foundation (a Chumash-oriented group interested in the environment), and the Center on Race, Poverty & the Environment. In April 2012, Fifth District Court determined that the project could move forward. The court felt that the flaws it saw in the environmental impact report were too minor to stop

3575-428: The state water project were cut back to as low as 50 percent. A community-services district for the area was created in February 2021, and the next month the water district board authorized the district to issue up to $ 250 million in bonds which would pay for construction of "wastewater facilities, a water storage and distribution system, roads, firehouses, a sheriff's station," and more. Responding to an objection that

3640-650: The state, far above the national average of 2 to 4 percent, Holly Van Houten [a home-school parent of the area] . . . said. Estimates range between 8 and 30 percent—somewhere between 100 and 400 children, she reports. Frazier Park hosted a branch of the Charter Oaks Community Charter School , headquartered in Bakersfield. The charter school was designed to "provide opportunities, support, and accountability for parents in their homeschooling endeavors." Geographical features Historic events Nature Newspaper Recreation Transportation Coast Ranges The Pacific Coast Ranges (officially gazetted as

3705-454: The state, is home to about 80 rare or endangered species, including the bald eagle , the California spotted owl , and the California condor , according to the Center for Biological Diversity of Tucson, Arizona. Only 150 condors were surviving in the wild in July 2008, and Tejon Ranch is one of the giant bird's prime habitats. The Sierra Club made conserving as much of the Tejon Ranch as possible its top priority for California, Bill Corcoran,

3770-418: The subducting Farallon plate split and formed the Kula Plate to the North. This formed an area in what is now Northern California, where the plates converged forming a Mélange . North of this was the Columbia Embayment , where the continental margin was east of the surrounding areas. Many of the major batholiths date from the late Cretaceous . As the Laramide Orogeny ended around 48 million years ago,

3835-505: The village was "15 notebooks, 13 of them 5.5 inches thick, two others adding four more inches, plus two rolls of large maps. They add up to a tower nearly six feet tall." She compared the report to "a six-foot stranger on the front porch, gawky and inscrutable, standing there for your consideration." The county also offered a set of four compact disks and put out a smaller, "2.5-foot stack" in the Frazier Park library. Lorelei Oviatt, division chief of Kern County's Planning Department, spoke at

3900-420: The western continent. As the continent drifted West, terranes were accreted onto the west coast. The timing of the accretion of the insular belt is uncertain, although the closure did not occur until at least 115 million years ago. Other Mesozoic terranes that accreted onto the continent include the Klamath Mountains , the Sierra Nevada, and the Guerrero super-terrane of western Mexico. 90–80 million years ago

3965-411: Was $ 163,600 for 104 houses in Lebec, $ 144,500 for 453 houses in Pine Mountain Club, $ 96,800 for 636 such houses in Frazier Park, and $ 89,700 for 187 in Lake of the Woods. The median is the point at which half the homes were valued for more and half for less. These figures are not the same as actual real-estate sales. Neither do they reflect the value of second or vacation homes, or houses rented out. Of

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4030-413: Was 184 for Sanchez. Electioneering was frustrating for council members because Kern County officials denied their request to allow a vote at the same time residents balloted in county elections. The council also tried putting a mail-in ballot in the local newspaper. As a result, a proposal was made in 2006 to the local county supervisor, Raymond A. Watson , to strengthen the council, but, according to

4095-456: Was 38, with 10 percent of its residents over 65, and Lebec had a median age of 36, with 13 percent over 65. By another measurement, Lebec was the "youngest" town. Eight percent of its residents were under age 5, compared to six percent in Frazier Park and five percent in Pine Mountain Club and Lake of the Woods. The Mountain Communities were overwhelmingly white — 91 percent in Pine Mountain Club, 88 percent in Frazier Park, 87 percent in Lake of

4160-455: Was also filed in November 2009 in Fresno by the Kawaiisu (KAH'-yah WAH'-soo) Tribe of Native Americans, arguing that U.S. officials failed to recognize the tribe's claim to areas of the 270,000-acre (1,100 km) Tejon Ranch property where the TMV project is planned and that the Kern County supervisors ignored the existence of tribal sites when they approved the plan. That suit sought an injunction suspending development and compensation for use of

4225-431: Was founded in 1995 for ninth- through 12th-graders. Gorman children and others from outside the district are educated in the small Gorman Elementary School from kindergarten through eighth grade. Home-schooling is important in the Mountain Communities, according to a March 2008 report in the Mountain Enterprise, which added: Per capita, the Mountain Communities may have one of the highest rates of homeschooling in

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