Santa Rosa Mountains (California)
Topographic map of the Santa Rosa Mountains and the neighboring mountains
Houses of Indians
The Santa Rosa Mountains are a mountain range in the Peninsular Ranges, east of the Los Angeles basin and northeast of the metropolitan area of San Diego in Southern California in the southwestern United States.
Geography
The mountain range extends over a length of about 48 km at the west side of the Coachella Valley in Riverside, San Diego and Imperial counties in Southern California. At the north end of the Santa Rosa Mountains, the limit is to the San Jacinto Mountains, which is marked by the California State Route 74.
The Toro Peak with 2657 m the highest peak in the mountain range. It lies about 35 km south of Palm Springs at the State Route 74 and on the northeast side of Upper Coyote Canyon in Anza -Borrego Desert State Park. As part of the North American continental divide of the Santa Rosa Mountains, the Salton Sink disconnect with the Salton Sea from the Pacific Ocean.
History
The south-eastern areas of the Santa Rosa Mountains were first seen in 1774 by non- locals, as a Spanish expedition led by Juan Bautista de Anza from New Spain coming the Coachella Valley and the historical region reached California. Maps from the 19th century are the Santa Rosa Mountains, the southern extension of the San Jacinto Mountains dar. The name " Santa Rosa Mountains " came only in 1901 by the United States Geological Survey in use.
Nature
The low -lying areas of the Santa Rosa Mountains are the Colorado Desert ecoregion, the higher-lying areas to the Chaparral and the mountain forests of California. Chaparral occurs particularly on the eastern rain shadow side of the mountain. Also in the east of the mountain can be found in canyons with natural oases the indigenous and endangered California Washington Palm ( Washingtonia filifera ). Another highly endangered endangered species in the Santa Rosa Mountains is the Peninsular bighorn sheep ( Ovis canadensis cremnobates ), which is endemic to the Peninsular Ranges.
Reserves
The bulk of the city, in Riverside County northern Santa Rosa Mountains is part of the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument. It was created in 2000 and is jointly managed by the Bureau of Land Management and the United States Forest Service, San Bernardino National Forest. The southern part of the Santa Rosa Mountains with the highest peak called Toro Peak is protected by the Anza -Borrego Desert large State Park. Both protected areas have visitor centers, starting points for hiking and many hiking trails that cover all altitudes of the Santa Rosa Mountains. In 1990, the California State Legislature authorized the creation of the Coachella Valley Mountains Conservancy to protect this and other mountain ranges around the Coachella Valley around.