Los Padres National Forest is a forest located in southern and central California, which includes most of the mountainous land along the California coast from Ventura to Monterey, extending inland. Elevations range from sea level to 8,831 feet.

Geography

The forest is approximately 1,950,000 acres (7890 km²) in area, of which 1,724,000 acres (6977 km²) are public lands; the rest are privately owned inholdings. The forest is divided between two noncontiguous areas. The northern division is within Monterey County and northern San Luis Obispo County and includes the beautiful Big Sur Coast and scenic interior areas. The "main division" of the forest includes lands within San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Ventura and Kern Counties. Mountain ranges within the Los Padres include the Santa Lucia Mountains, La Panza Range, Caliente Range (a small part), Sierra Madre Mountains, San Rafael Mountains, Santa Ynez Mountains, and Topatopa Mountains; the highest parts of the forest are not within named mountain ranges, but are adjacent to the western Tehachapi Mountains and include Mount Pinos, Cerro Noroeste, and Reyes Peak.

Many rivers in Southern and Central California have their points of origin within the Los Padres National Forest, including the Carmel, Salinas, Cuyama, Sisquoc, Santa Ynez, Sespe, Ventura, and Piru.

Several wilderness areas have been set aside within the Los Padres National Forest, including the San Rafael Wilderness, the first primitive area to be included in the U.S. wilderness system after the passage of the Wilderness Act in 1964. The others, all more recent, are the Ventana Wilderness in the Santa Lucia Mountains, the Santa Lucia Wilderness, the Dick Smith Wilderness adjacent and to the east of the San Rafael, the Machesna Mountain Wilderness in the La Panza Range, and the Sespe Wilderness in Ventura County.

Wildlife and vegetation

Many threatened and endangered species live within the Forest. Probably most famous among them is the California Condor (Gymnogyps californianus). The American Peregrine Falcon is also entirely dependent on the Forest for its survival.

Many vegetation types are represented in the Los Padres, including chaparral, the common ground cover of most coastal ranges in California below about 5,000 feet (1500 m), and coniferous forests, which can be found in abundance in the Ventana Wilderness as well as the region around Mount Pinos in the northeastern portion of the Forest.

Use restrictions

Because of extreme fire danger, there are many restrictions on building fires in Los Padres National Forest. Some portions of the forest are closed entirely to public entry during the fire season (including the entire San Rafael Wilderness). Normally the fire season extends from June 1 each year until the time of the first autumn rains, which is usually in mid-November.

A National Forest Adventure Pass is required for parking in the Angeles National Forest as well as other National Forests in Southern California, and may be obtained from local merchants, visitor centers, or online.

External links

• Los Padres National Forest: US Forest Service official site
• Ventana Wilderness Alliance- dedicated to the preservation of wilderness areas and other public lands in the Monterey Ranger District of the Los Padres National Forest

Monterey County, California | National Forests of California | San Luis Obispo County, California | Santa Barbara County, California | Ventura County, California