Located less than an hour’s drive from San Luis Obispo, Black Mountain is a favorite local hiking spot. On clear days, visitors to the top are treated to views of the far-off Sierra Nevada and the Carrizo Plain National Monument.
Black Mountain is one of the few roadless areas in the region that includes oak savannah habitat, a once ubiquitous mixture of grasslands and oaks that is being rapidly destroyed by development throughout the state.
Due to its habitat diversity, it may host the elusive San Joaquin kit fox and the San Joaquin pocket mouse, and it offers a refuge for mountain lion, badger, California condor and a herd of wild horses. Three sensitive plant species are known to call the area home, and nine more species may exist there.
The proposed Scenic Area encompasses the headwaters of the Salinas River which is an extremely important source of water for local communities, agriculture and wildlife.
