Land Management Plan - Part 2 Los Padres National Forest Strategy
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.