Santa Lucia Range

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Seen the coastal Santa Lucia Mountains from the Cone Peak from

Typical landscape of the area

The Santa Lucia Mountains (English Santa Lucia Range and the Santa Lucia Mountains ) is a mountain range on the coast of California. The mountain is part of the Southern Coast Ranges, part of the California Coast Ranges. It is predominantly for Monterey County, only its southern foothills extend into the San Luis Obispo County. The Santa Lucia Mountains are known as the hinterland of the coastline at Big Sur on California Highway No. 1

The mountains were named in 1602 by the Spanish officer, explorer and cartographer Sebastián Vizcaíno after Saint Lucy of Syracuse.

Topography

The Santa Lucia Mountains on the coast of Monterey 170 km to the southeast to San Luis Obispo. The highest peak is 1786 meters with the Junipero Serra Peak. To the east of the mountains lies the valley of the Salinas River, in the southeast lie the San Antonio and the Nacimiento Reservoir.

Vegetation and fauna

The Pacific -facing West side of the mountain is covered with an embossed by the high rainfall forest. It consists predominantly of yellow pine, Pacific Madrone and the endemic " Bristlecone pine " together. The Santa Lucia Mountains belonged to the natural range of the coastal sequoia, its holdings in the region, however, were almost completely cut down to the turn of the 20th century. Only at Salmon Creek are still remnants, they are also the southernmost occurrence of Art

The eastern side is located in the rain shadow and is covered with a bush land designated as Chaparral similar to the maquis in the Mediterranean. The vegetation consists primarily of creosote bush, Coulter pine ( Pinus coulteri ), Nut Pine ( Pinus Sabiniana ) and various species of oak. Typical faunal elements are mule deer, and Yellow-billed magpies.

Use and nature conservation

Almost all of the mountains are owned by the federal government. Large parts are as Los Padres National Forest reported, a National Forest under the management of the United States Forest Service. In the northern part of the National Forests is the Ventana Wilderness, in the south the Silver Peak Wilderness. Wilderness Areas are the most severe class of natural protected areas in the United States.

In the National Forest California condors are reintroduced since 1997. The species became extinct in the 1980s in the wild and is the subject of the largest conservation breeding program of the United States. The small population of Big Sur has contact with the animals that are reintroduced at Pinnacles National Park 50 km east since about 2006. In the Ventana Wilderness, it was also the first successful breeding wild California condors of the program.

In the southeast part of one of the mountains to Fort Hunter Liggett, the largest with approximately 800 square kilometers of training grounds of the United States Military Reserve.

Tourism

The Santa Lucia Mountains forms the hinterland to the coast of Big Sur and hence the backdrop for a classic tourist route. In the National Forest, there are thousands of miles way, which can be used by hikers, horseback riders and mountain bikers. The trails in the Wilderness Areas are accessible only to hikers and horseback riders, mountain bikes are prohibited here as a mechanical transport as in all Wilderness Areas.