User:Lux1134/sandbox/Santa Lucia Wilderness

The Santa Lucia Wilderness is an 18,679-acre area within the Los Padres National Forest, located east of San Luis Obispo, northeast of Arroyo Grande, and southeast of Santa Margarita. It neighbors the more remote Garcia Wilderness.

Geography
Rising steeply from the eastern valleys of San Luis Obispo and Arroyo Grande, then dropping into the Salinas River drainage basin near Pozo, the Santa Lucia Wilderness is situated on the southernmost reaches of the Santa Lucia Range. The highest point within the wilderness is Lopez Peak (2868'). Nearby peaks of considerable size include Mount Lowe (2599'), Bald Mountain (2835'), Garcia Mountain (3170'), Black Mountain (3621'), and Machesna Mountain (4063').

Geologically, the Santa Lucia Wilderness represents a transition point between two geologic regions in California---the Franciscan Complex and the Salinian Block---as well as the southern edge of the Santa Lucia Range. Water from the Santa Lucia Wilderness drains to three watersheds: the Salinas River (via Rinconada Creek), the Arroyo Grande Creek, and the Santa Maria River (via Trout Creek); with three respective reservoirs: Santa Margarita Lake, Lake Lopez, and Twitchell Reservoir.

There are two faults significant to the formation of the Santa Lucia Mountains that connect in the vicinity of the Santa Lucia Wilderness. The currently dormant Sur-Nacimiento Fault runs through the western side of the mountain range, and the more active Rinconada Fault divides the mountains from the Salinas River Valley on the east.

The southern terminus of the Sur-Nacimiento Fault appears just north of the Santa Lucia Wilderness, roughly marking the beginning of the Santa Lucia Range. The Sur-Nacimiento fault continues northwest up through the Santa Lucia Range until it meets the shoreline around Julia Pfieffer Burns State Park. It is a reverse thrust fault, marking uplift of the Santa Lucia Mountains (CITE). The Sur-Nacimiento Fault is a dividing line between two major blocks of Californian rock: Franciscan complex rocks on the southwest and the Salinian Block granite to the northeast. As various authors have noted, there is uncertainty about the exact origins of the Salinian Block batholith, citing its similar composition with the southern Sierra Nevada or Mojave granite. The block likely began several hundred miles to the southeast before the San Andreas fault action began.

Near the Santa Lucia and Garcia Wilderness areas, the Rinconada Fault is roughly adjoined to the Sur-Nacimiento Fault, parallel to the San Andreas Fault. The Rinconada Fault splits off from the Sur-Nacimiento Fault just east of Santa Margarita, through the southeastern portion of the Santa Lucia Wilderness, continuing northwestward up the Salinas River Valley, where it eventually becomes more active and demarcates the fertile Salinas alluvium from the Sierra de Salinas.

The intersection of these faults near the Santa Lucia Wilderness may provide evidence for the origin of the Salinian Block. As such, the Santa Lucia Wilderness is an area with potential for future geological research.

Rocks within the Santa Lucia Wilderness are mostly comprised by Franciscan complex mélange, including Cretaceous and Cenozoic sedimentation with some outcrops of metamorphic rock, resulting in steep canyons of sedimentary rock unconformities and thrust zones.

Oceanic West Huasna fault

Climate
As with most of California's Central Coast, the Santa Lucia Wilderness is characterized by a coastal Mediterranean climate, with a diversity of microclimates that support habitats corresponding to geographical features, like coast-facing chaparral, arid interior foothills, and riparian zones. Summers tend to be hot and arid, whereas winters tend to be cool and rainy. Marine layer clouds occasionally reach inland to the Santa Lucia Wilderness. Climate in the wilderness varies with elevation, soil composition, ground cover type, solar exposure, and distance from the coast.

Flora and Fauna
The Santa Lucia Wilderness is a mix of coastal sage, interior chaparral, oak woodland, riparian zones, and a few patches of grassland, belonging to the California chaparral and woodlands ecoregion. Numerous resident and migratory species call the wilderness home.

An occasional California Condor has been known to traverse the high ridges, for which the Hi-Mountain condor lookout was built in (YEAR) (CITE).

In the higher elevations of the western ridges are thick stands of knobcone pine, surrounded by manzanita chaparral with scattered gray foothill pines, Coulter pines, and madrones. Oak woodlands define the slopes of upper Lopez Canyon and its tributaries. Franciscan complex rocks have been sufficiently loose enough for streams to erode deep canyons. The deeper sections of the canyon provide sufficient moisture for trees to grow large and withstand firestorms. There are perennial pools in some places of the creek beds, supporting moisture-loving undergrowth and amphibians. Toward the lower sections of the Lopez watershed, the oak woodland begins to thin and mix with scrub and oak savanna. The eastern areas are mostly chaparral with some mixed oaks and conifers.

During the wetter months, the Lopez Creek becomes home to water-dependent species like the California newt and young Steelhead trout.

black butte

Pre-colonial times
Colonial era - Industrialization

Industrialization - Present

Fires