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Land Management Plan - Part 2 Los Padres National Forest Strategy

Land Management Plan - Part 2 Los Padres National Forest Strategy

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<strong>Land</strong> <strong>Management</strong> <strong>Plan</strong> <strong>Part</strong> 2<br />

<strong>Los</strong> <strong>Padres</strong> <strong>National</strong> <strong>Forest</strong> <strong>Strategy</strong><br />

September 2005<br />

Cuyama-Highway 166 Front<br />

Theme: A natural appearing scenic backdrop with an agricultural setting as viewed from<br />

California State Highway 166 with emerging private land development. This Place (including the<br />

Cuyama River and California State Highway 166) is a human and wildlife corridor connecting<br />

coastal to inland valley communities.<br />

Setting: The Cuyama-Highway166 Front Place is<br />

located along the southwest edge of Cuyama Valley<br />

with expansive vistas along the California State<br />

Highway 166 corridor between Santa Maria and the<br />

Cuyama Valley. California State Highway 166 is a main<br />

transportation corridor between coastal communities,<br />

Interstate 5, and the Bakersfield area. The Cuyama<br />

Front portion of the Place consists of a comparatively<br />

steep, mountain escarpment that stands in striking<br />

contrast to the flat, rural Cuyama Valley floor. Valleyfacing<br />

slopes are steep and periodically interrupted by<br />

narrow, highly eroded canyons and draws. Family<br />

ranches are located within and adjacent to the Place,<br />

much of which was a historic Spanish <strong>Land</strong> Grant.<br />

Except for a few roads and trails, public access is limited. In addition, there are scattered potreros<br />

on the eastern section of Sierra Madre Ridge that have significant cultural resource values.<br />

Watersheds of the Place are the source of water for people living in the Santa Maria Valley. The<br />

Cuyama Watershed drains into the Twitchell Reservoir that supplies water to the Santa Maria<br />

River Basin and to agriculture in the Santa Maria Valley. Twin Rocks, Miranda Pine Mountain,<br />

Timber Peak, McPherson Peak, and Santa Barbara Canyon are the prominent topographic<br />

features of the Place.<br />

<strong>Plan</strong>t communities in this Place are diverse and range from ridge top forests to areas of dense<br />

mixed chaparral, oak woodlands, and open annual grasslands. Five rare plant species are present<br />

Page 52<br />

Looking toward Sierra<br />

Madre, Cuyama Highway<br />

166 Front Place.

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