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Exploring the beautiful nature of California


California Nature:  Marine Plants


The classic images of California are those of sunny beaches, redwoods, and the Sierra Nevada. Yet California is also a land of rivers, about ninety of them, with thousands of forks, branches, and creeks. Totaling 194,000 miles, they cover more area than those of any other state but Alaska.

Depended on by nearly 25 million Californians for drinking water, thousands of farmers, and the state’s commercial and sport salmon fishing industries, the Sacramento-San Joaquin river system is arguably California’s single most important natural resource.

The Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta is the largest watershed in California, accounting for 40 percent of the run-off. The Delta drains the west slope of the Sierra Nevada into San Francisco Bay - the largest estuary on the West Coast. National Geographic called the Delta the hydraulic heart of California.
California rivers are an important part of California nature It once supported millions of salmon and other fish, wintering habitat for millions of migratory birds, herds of tule elk, and even grizzly bear. Now many fish are endangered and the river is on the verge of collapse. Forty percent of the river’s flow is diverted to provide drinking water for 25 million Californians and irrigation water to cultivate half the nation’s fruits and vegetables. Dams, levees, and agricultural development have eliminated over ninety five percent of floodplain and freshwater tidal marsh habitats. Despite these insults, the system still provides critical habitat for birds migrating along the pacific flyway and a substantial portion of the Pacific salmon fishery in California and Oregon.

The Sacramento River is an important watercourse of Northern and Central California. The largest river in California, it rises on the eastern slopes of the Klamath Mountains, and after a journey south of over 400 miles, empties into Suisun Bay, an arm of the San Francisco Bay, and thence to the Pacific Ocean. The river drains an area of about 27,000 square miles  in the northern half of the state, mostly within a region bounded by the Coast Ranges and Sierra Nevada known as the Sacramento Valley. Its extensive watershed also reaches to the volcanic plateaus of Northeastern California, and a tiny portion of southern Oregon.

Cascading out of the mountains of southern Oregon, the Klamath River runs free for over 200 miles through the Siskiyou mountains of northern California. Feisty fish and fierce rapids are the calling cards for the Upper Klamath, California’s second-longest river. Located in the Klamath River valley just north of Mount Shasta, the Middle Klamath is an ideal river trip for first-timers, families with children as young as four, or river veterans looking for solitude and relaxation.

In addition to the many Class 2 rapids, you’ll be exploring side creeks, swimming, or floating, in the warm water, and discovering deer and turtles along the riverbank. 

The upper Klamath River is a wild, isolated section of the river and slices through the rugged Cascade Mountains of southern Oregon and northern California. With unparalleled wilderness beauty and over 30 major rapids, the Upper Klamath’s “Hell’s Corner Gorge” is one of the west’s finest Class 4 river trips. Just above “Hell’s Corner” the river narrows and steepens, creating a volcanic maze of whitewater.
both plants and wildlife rely on California rivers in nature For millions of years the Colorado River has left its mark on the land. Since the river was formed, it has been hard at work cutting great chasms, including the Grand Canyon, as it carved its 1,400-mile course from Colorado's Rocky Mountains to the Sea of Cortez.

Much of the Southwest gets its water supply from the Colorado river that runs right though the middle of three major deserts on its way to the Sea of Cortez. The Colorado river and the use of its water has shaped the history of  Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah, which all depend on the Colorado River and its tributaries for water.

Early settlers along the Colorado tried to alter the river's impact on the land by diverting its waters for irrigation. But each year the Colorado, fed by melting snows in the spring and early summer, flooded low-lying lands along its route, destroying lives, crops, and property. In late summer and early fall, the river often dried to a trickle, too low to divert. Without water, crops and livestock withered and died.

The Salinas River is the largest river of the central coast of California, running 170 miles and draining 4,160 square miles. It flows north-northwest and drains the Salinas Valley that slices through the Coast Range south from Monterey Bay. The Salinas is a wildlife corridor, and provides the principal source of water from its reservoirs and tributaries for the farms and vineyards of the valley.

The Arroyo Seco River is the only Salinas River tributary which remains undammed, explaining why it supports the most persistent remnants of the threatened Central Coast Steelhead trout that spawn in the Salinas River watershed. It is also an important middle link for salmon migrating from the Salinas River to Tassajara Creek and other tributaries. A 2001 assessment of steelhead habitat of the Arroyo Seco River and its Piney Creek tributary found high potential for steelhead population restoration.
 
 
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