Chumash Potential Wilderness Additions
 Managing
agency: Los Padres National Forest
Size: Approximately 54,734 acres including
the Badlands North/Quatal, Badlands N.W., Badlands Apache, Chumash S.W., Wagon
Wheel Springs, Abel (Cerro Noroeste), and Chumash N.E. units.
Location: Los Padres County, north of Ojai, west of Frazier Park.
Highway access: The Chumash proposed wilderness additions can be reached via Hwy 33 out of Ventura and Kern counties. East-reaching forest roads 9N09, 8N06 and Lockwood Valley Road lead to the Chumash Wilderness's western and southern proposed additions.
Description:
- Dramatic geology
- Chumash people sacred sites
- Historical habitat for and possible continued presence of
several sensitive and endangered species of wildlife
- Areas of High Ecological Concern: Abel and Badlands areas.
The "Bryce Canyons of California" is what many of the locals
call the beautiful canyons found in these areas.
Entering these areas by dead-end dirt roads, one is quickly led to wide valleys that have been shaped and reshaped by large flows of water melting from the winter snows from Mt. Pinos to the Cerro Noroeste ridge of mountains. Each year the patterns formed are beautifully varied and depend upon the quantity of water, the rate at which the melting occurs, and how much rainfall has fallen. Within the broad bed of the streams formed by the largest flows of water, one can detect many mini-streambeds with beautiful variations of stones and soils clusters. The crusts that form as the streambeds dry up add still more striking patterns to admire and wonder about. In springtime, remarkable displays of wildflowers develop on either side of the streams.
All of this is encapsulated by the sides of the canyons. These canyons are mainly sandstone and have been carved into dramatic shapes and forms, revealing varying shades of colors, often one layer in striking contrast to another. These views are never to be forgotten by those who are fortunate enough to see them.
For additional information, please contact:
Erin Duffy
California Wild Heritage Campaign
Phone: (805) 564-2460
Email: calwild_sb@yahoo.com |
Just three miles off of Interstate 80, 
