Cuyama Valley

In the Cuyama Valley with views south to the Sierra Madre

The Cuyama Valley is a valley on the Cuyama River in the middle of California's northern Santa Barbara County, in southern San Luis Obispo County, Kern County in the southwestern and northwestern Ventura County. It is a rather sparsely populated area with two distinct towns - Cuyama and New Cuyama - that is widely used for livestock breeding, agriculture and the oil and gas extraction. California State Route 166 runs almost the entire length of the valley and connects the coastal towns of Santa Maria and Arroyo Grande with the California Central Valley in Bakersfield.

Geography

The valley covers an area of ​​about 300 square kilometers, which is surrounded on all sides by mountains. The Cuyama River drains the valley through a narrow canyon between the Sierra Madre Mountains in the south and the La Panza Range in the north. From its headwaters north of California State Route 33, the valley opens up to its greatest width. This is about there where the routes intersect 166 and 33 and the borders of the four counties, with a stake in the valley. Thereafter, the valley narrows again until the river disappears on its way to the ocean between the mountain chains. The agricultural parts lie largely in the middle, where the valley is a broad alluvial plain.

North of the valley is approximately 1500 meters high Caliente Range, opposite the Carrizo Plain. To the east and southeast lies the high hinterland of Ventura County, is part of the Mount Pinos as the highest peak of the region. The extreme north-east of the valley lies on the San Andreas Fault, the low accumulation of hills forms here, away via Route 166; lie behind the southern San Joaquin Valley and Bakersfield. The Los Padres National Forest is bordered to the south, east and northeast of the Cuyama Valley; the majority of the land in the north, including large portions of the Caliente Range is owned by the Bureau of Land Management.

Geologically it is in the valley alluvial filled a syncline, which lies between 600 and 800 meters above sea level. The rock is usually sedimentary and dating from the Miocene Monterey Formation is pending in the south in the foothills of the Sierra Madre. There are also formations of the Pliocene and Pleistocene. The Morales Fault separates the valley from the abruptly in the north, rising Caliente Range. The upper part of the valley, north and northeast of the Pine Mountains, consists of Badlands.

The climate is semi-arid with hot summers and cool winters. Almost all precipitation falls in the winter months in the form of rain, although snow occasionally occur. The annual rainfall is about 100 mm, so the valley is one of the driest areas in the coastal region of the central California, although the valley because occasionally is exposed to the sea open and maritime influence. The dominant native vegetation of the valley are grassland and scrub, chaparral and oak forests grow on the hills in the south.

History

The original inhabitants of the valley were Chumash Indians by tribe. Beginning of the 19th century, the first European settlers arrived and by the end of the Mexican period, the valley was divided into two land development areas. The primary land use was grazing by cattle, although the late 19th century side valleys, where more water was available, isolated agriculture arose. In 1939, drilling was first successfully performed after the low-lying ground and the valley was transformed by irrigation in an agricultural area.

The economic development was slow until 1948, when oil was discovered on the Russell Ranch. A year later the South Cuyama oil field was developed. The Richfield Oil Company, later part of the Atlantic Richfield Company, built the city of New Cuyama to accommodate their workers and the specific services for them. The obtained oil was pumped through a pipeline to a refinery to Long Beach. Beginning of the 1950s was the Cuyama Valley in terms of crude oil production in fourth place in California.

As oil production declined - it is estimated that only two percent of the stocks of the South Cuyama oil field are left - agriculture again became the main activity in the valley. The sharp rise in crude oil prices in 2007 and 2008, however, has aroused the interest again and E & B Natural Resources has acquired the funding law at the oil field of Petroleum Hallador.

Swell

• Charles W. Jennings and Rudolph G. beach. Geologic Map of California. Journal of Los Angeles. State of California, Division of Mines and Geology. In 1969.
• Dennis W. Lantis, Rodney Steiner, Arthur E. Karinen: California, Land of Contrast, 3rd edition. Kendall / Hunt Publishing Company, Dubuque Iowa. 1977 ISBN. 0-8403-0768-3. Pages 193-194.