1.
Oakland, California
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Oakland /ˈoʊklənd/ is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. The city was incorporated in 1852, Oaklands territory covers what was once a mosaic of California coastal terrace prairie, oak woodland, and north coastal scrub. Its land served as a resource when its hillside oak and redwood timber were logged to build San Francisco. In the late 1860s, Oakland was selected as the terminal of the Transcontinental Railroad. Following the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, many San Francisco citizens moved to Oakland, enlarging the citys population, increasing its housing stock and it continued to grow in the 20th century with its busy port, shipyards, and a thriving automobile manufacturing industry. Oakland is known for its sustainability practices, including a top-ranking for usage of electricity from renewable resources, in addition, due to a steady influx of immigrants during the 20th century, along with thousands of African-American war-industry workers who relocated from the Deep South during the 1940s. Oakland is the most ethnically diverse city in the country. The earliest known inhabitants were the Huchiun Indians, who lived there for thousands of years, the Huchiun belonged to a linguistic grouping later called the Ohlone. In Oakland, they were concentrated around Lake Merritt and Temescal Creek, in 1772, the area that later became Oakland was claimed, with the rest of California, by Spanish settlers for the King of Spain. In the early 19th century, the Spanish crown granted the East Bay area to Luis María Peralta for his Rancho San Antonio, the grant was confirmed by the successor Mexican republic upon its independence from Spain. Upon his death in 1842, Peralta divided his land among his four sons, Most of Oakland fell within the shares given to Antonio Maria and Vicente. The portion of the parcel that is now Oakland was called encinal—Spanish for oak grove—due to the oak forest that covered the area. In 1851, three men—Horace Carpentier, Edson Adams, and Andrew Moon—began developing what is now downtown Oakland, on May 4,1852, the Town of Oakland incorporated. Two years later, on March 25,1854, Oakland re-incorporated as the City of Oakland, with Horace Carpentier elected the first mayor, the city and its environs quickly grew with the railroads, becoming a major rail terminal in the late 1860s and 1870s. In 1868, the Central Pacific constructed the Oakland Long Wharf at Oakland Point, a number of horsecar and cable car lines were constructed in Oakland during the latter half of the 19th century. The first electric streetcar set out from Oakland to Berkeley in 1891, at the time of incorporation, Oakland consisted of the territory that lay south of todays major intersection of San Pablo Avenue, Broadway, and Fourteenth Street. The city gradually annexed farmlands and settlements to the east and the north, Oaklands rise to industrial prominence, and its subsequent need for a seaport, led to the digging of a shipping and tidal channel in 1902. This resulted in the town of Alameda being made an island
2.
California
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California is the most populous state in the United States and the third most extensive by area. Located on the western coast of the U. S, California is bordered by the other U. S. states of Oregon, Nevada, and Arizona and shares an international border with the Mexican state of Baja California. Los Angeles is Californias most populous city, and the second largest after New York City. The Los Angeles Area and the San Francisco Bay Area are the nations second- and fifth-most populous urban regions, California also has the nations most populous county, Los Angeles County, and its largest county by area, San Bernardino County. The Central Valley, an agricultural area, dominates the states center. What is now California was first settled by various Native American tribes before being explored by a number of European expeditions during the 16th and 17th centuries, the Spanish Empire then claimed it as part of Alta California in their New Spain colony. The area became a part of Mexico in 1821 following its war for independence. The western portion of Alta California then was organized as the State of California, the California Gold Rush starting in 1848 led to dramatic social and demographic changes, with large-scale emigration from the east and abroad with an accompanying economic boom. If it were a country, California would be the 6th largest economy in the world, fifty-eight percent of the states economy is centered on finance, government, real estate services, technology, and professional, scientific and technical business services. Although it accounts for only 1.5 percent of the states economy, the story of Calafia is recorded in a 1510 work The Adventures of Esplandián, written as a sequel to Amadis de Gaula by Spanish adventure writer Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo. The kingdom of Queen Calafia, according to Montalvo, was said to be a land inhabited by griffins and other strange beasts. This conventional wisdom that California was an island, with maps drawn to reflect this belief, shortened forms of the states name include CA, Cal. Calif. and US-CA. Settled by successive waves of arrivals during the last 10,000 years, various estimates of the native population range from 100,000 to 300,000. The Indigenous peoples of California included more than 70 distinct groups of Native Americans, ranging from large, settled populations living on the coast to groups in the interior. California groups also were diverse in their organization with bands, tribes, villages. Trade, intermarriage and military alliances fostered many social and economic relationships among the diverse groups, the first European effort to explore the coast as far north as the Russian River was a Spanish sailing expedition, led by Portuguese captain Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, in 1542. Some 37 years later English explorer Francis Drake also explored and claimed a portion of the California coast in 1579. Spanish traders made unintended visits with the Manila galleons on their trips from the Philippines beginning in 1565
3.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
4.
East Bay Regional Park District
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The East Bay Regional Park District is a special district operating in Alameda County and Contra Costa County, California, within the East Bay area of the San Francisco Bay Area. It maintains and operates a system of parks which is the largest urban regional park district in the United States. The administrative office is located in Oakland, as of 2015, EBRPD spans 120,000 acres with 65 parks and over 1,200 miles of trails. Some of these parks are areas, others include a variety of visitor attractions. The trails are used for non-motorized transportation such as biking, hiking. Nearly 150 miles of paved trails through urban areas link the parks together, a destructive grass fire that broke out in Wildcat Canyon blew west into Berkeley on September 27,1923 and burned down 640 structures homes. The East Bay Water Company was harshly criticized for its failure to deliver water to successfully fight the fire. A state law was passed that enabled citizens of Alameda and Contra Costa Counties to create a district that could obtain water from the Mokelumne River. The East Bay Municipal District was formed and approved by the electorate, the EBRPD was founded in 1934, and acquired its first land two years later, when the East Bay Municipal Utility District sold 2,166 acres of its surplus land. The founders of the district included Robert Sibley, a hiking enthusiast, Hollis Thompson, then Berkeley City Manager, and Charles Lee Tilden, among others. William Penn Mott, Jr. served as director of the agency from 1962 to 1967, in June 2013, EBRPD purchased a 1,900 acres tract of land formerly known as Roddy Ranch in east Contra Costa County. The tract lies south of Antioch and west of Brentwood. The cost was reported as $14.24 million, funding will also be provided by California Wildlife Conservation Board and an unidentified private foundation. The acquisition does not include Roddy Ranch Golf Club or about 240 acres of privately owned land inside the project boundary, the East Contra Costa County Habitat Conservancy will install gates, fencing and signs around the tract in the coming year, while the sale is in escrow. The new area will likely be named Deer Valley Regional Park, in 2016, Vargas Plateau Regional Park in Fremont was the first park ever to have been shut down as the result of legal action in the more than 80-year history of EBRPD. During 2014, EBRPD cut park hours on a temporary and interim basis to reduce access to Mission Peak in Fremont. The parks administered by the EBRPD vary greatly in size and character, there are also bay shore parks such as the Point Pinole Regional Shoreline north of Richmond, the Coyote Hills Regional Park near Fremont, the Martin Luther King Jr. Regional Shoreline on San Leandro Bay, and the Oyster Bay Regional Shoreline south of the Oakland International Airport, the district also includes a former farm, a former coal mine, an extinct volcano, and one of the biggest dog-walking parks in the country. Redwood Regional Park contains the largest remaining stand of coast redwood in the East Bay
5.
Alameda County, California
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Alameda County is a county in the state of California in the United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 1,510,271, Alameda County is included in the San Francisco Bay Area, occupying much of the East Bay region. The county was formed on March 25,1853, from a portion of Contra Costa County. The Spanish word alameda means a place where trees grow. The willow and sycamore trees along the banks of the river reminded the early explorers of a road lined with trees, the county seat at the time it was formed was located at Alvarado, now part of Union City. In 1856 it was moved to San Leandro, where the county courthouse was destroyed by the devastating 1868 quake on the Hayward Fault, the county seat was then re-established in the town of Brooklyn from 1872-1875. Brooklyn is now part of Oakland, which has been the county seat since 1873, much of what is now considered an intensively urban region, with major cities, was developed as a trolley car suburb of San Francisco in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The annual county fair is held at the Alameda County Fairgrounds in Pleasanton, the fair runs for three weekends from June to July. Attractions include horse racing, carnival rides, 4-H exhibits, according to the U. S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 821 square miles, of which 739 square miles is land and 82 square miles is water. The San Francisco Bay borders the county on the west, the crest of the Berkeley Hills form part of the northeastern boundary, and reach into the center of the county. A coastal plain several miles wide lines the bay, and is Oaklands most populous region, Livermore Valley lies in the eastern part of the county. Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge A2014 analysis found Alameda County to be the 4th most racially diverse county in the United States, the 2010 United States Census reported that Alameda County had a population of 1,510,271. The population density was 2,047.6 people per square mile, Hispanic or Latino of any race were 339,889 persons,16. 4% Mexican,0. 8% Puerto Rican,0. 2% Cuban,5. 1% Other Hispanic. 26. 0% of all households were made up of individuals and 7. 3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older, the average household size was 2.71 and the average family size was 3.31. In the county, the population was out with 24. 6% under the age of 18,9. 6% from 18 to 24,33. 9% from 25 to 44,21. 7% from 45 to 64. The median age was 34 years, for every 100 females there were 96.60 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 94.00 males, the median income for a household in the county was $55,946, and the median income for a family was $65,857. Males had an income of $47,425 versus $36,921 for females
6.
San Leandro, California
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San Leandro is a suburban city in Alameda County, California, United States. It is located on the shore of San Francisco Bay. The first inhabitants of the region which would eventually become San Leandro were the ancestors of the Ohlone people. The Spanish settlers called these natives Costeños or coast people and the English-speaking settlers called them Costanoans, San Leandro was first visited by Europeans on March 20,1772 by Spanish soldier Captain Pedro Fages and the Spanish Catholic priest Father Crespi. San Leandro is located on the Rancho San Leandro and Rancho San Antonio Mexican land grants, both were located along El Camino Viejo, modern 14th Street / State Route 185. The smaller, Rancho San Leandro, approximately 9,000 acres, was given to José Joaquín Estudillo in 1842, the larger, Rancho San Antonio, approximately 44,000 acres was given to another Spanish soldier Don Luis Maria Peralta in 1820. Beginning in 1855, two of Estudillos sons-in-law, John B, the city has a historic Portuguese population dating from when immigrants from the Azores and laborers from Hawaii began settling in the city in the 1880s and established farms and businesses. By the 1910 census, they had accounted for nearly two-thirds of San Leandros population, in 1856 San Leandro became the county seat of Alameda county, but the county courthouse was destroyed there by the devastating 1868 quake on the Hayward Fault. The county seat was then re-established in the town of Brooklyn, during the Civil War San Leandro and its neighbor, Brooklyn, fielded a California militia company, the Brooklyn Guard. As a result of the covenant, In 1960, the city was almost entirely white, the United States Supreme Court, in Shelley v. Kraemer, later declared such covenants unenforceable by the state. San Leandro was an 86. 4% white-non Hispanic community according in the 1970 census, the citys demographics began to diversify in the 1980s. By 2010, Asian Americans had become a plurality population in San Leandro, with one third of the population. The San Leandro Hills run above the city to the northeast, in the lower elevations of the city, an upper regionally contained aquifer is located 50 to 100 feet below the surface. At least one deeper aquifer exists approximately 250 feet below the surface, some salt water intrusion has taken place in the San Leandro Cone. Shallow groundwater generally flows to the west, from the foothills toward San Francisco Bay, shallow groundwater is contaminated in many of the locales of the lower elevation of the city. Contamination by gasoline, volatile compounds and some heavy metals has been recorded in a number of these lower elevation areas. The trace of the Hayward Fault passes under Foothill Boulevard in San Leandro, follow the link in the reference to see a series of photos of the fault cutting the asphalt between 1979 and 1987. The 2010 United States Census reported that San Leandro had a population of 84,950, the population density was 5,423.8 people per square mile
7.
Castro Valley, California
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Castro Valley is a census-designated place in Alameda County, California, United States. As of the 2000 census, it is the fifth most populous unincorporated area in California, the population was 61,388 at the 2010 census. Castro Valley is named after Don Guillermo Castro, who was a soldier in the Mexican army, first known for chicken ranches, Castro Valley eventually became a bedroom community. Before the arrival of European settlers the area was settled by the Chocheño subdivision of the Ohlone Native Americans, with the arrival of Europeans, Castro Valley was part of the land granted to Mission San Jose in 1797. The area Castro Valley now occupies was part of the colony of New Spain in what was the state of Alta California. Castro Valley was part of the original 28,000 acre land grant given to Castro and this land grant included Hayward, San Lorenzo, and Castro Valley, including Crow Canyon, Cull Canyon, and Palomares Canyons. Castro had a habit and had to sell off portions of his land to pay gambling debts. The last of his holding was sold in a sale in 1864 to Faxon Atherton for $400,000. Atherton in turn began selling off his portion in smaller parcels, two gentlemen named Cull and Luce bought some 2,400 acres and began running a steam-operated saw mill in Redwood Canyon. The Jensen brothers also bought land from Atherton in 1867, during the 1940s and 1950s, Castro Valley was known for its chicken ranches. Later it developed into a community, where workers live. Lake Chabot lies at the north of Castro Valley, directly to the west is San Leandro. To the east, the closest cities are San Ramon, Dublin, the San Leandro Hills extend along the northeastern edge of the community. The 2010 United States Census reported that 61,388 people,22,348 households, the population density was 3,690.3 people per square mile. There were 23,392 housing units at a density of 1,382.6 per square mile. The racial makeup of the CDP was 58. 0% White,6. 9% African American,0. 5% Native American,21. 4% Asian,0. 7% Pacific Islander,6. 1% from other races, and 6. 3% from two or more races. 17. 4% of the population was Hispanic or Latino of any race, the Census reported that 98. 0% of the population lived in households,0. 4% lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and 1. 5% were institutionalized. 5. 0% of households were unmarried opposite-sex partnerships and 1. 0% were same-sex married couples or partnerships,21. 7% of households were made up of individuals and 8. 9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older
8.
Grassland
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Grasslands are areas where the vegetation is dominated by grasses, however sedge and rush families can also be found. Grasslands occur naturally on all continents except Antarctica, grasslands are found in most ecoregions of the Earth. For example, there are five terrestrial ecoregion classifications of the grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome. Grassland vegetation can vary in height from short, as in chalk grassland, to quite tall, as in the case of North American tallgrass prairie, South American grasslands. Woody plants, shrubs or trees, may occur on some grasslands – forming savannas, scrubby grassland or semi-wooded grassland, as flowering plants and trees, grasses grow in great concentrations in climates where annual rainfall ranges between 500 and 900 mm. The root systems of perennial grasses and forbs form complex mats that hold the soil in place, graminoids are among the most versatile life forms. Existing forest biomes declined, and grasslands became much more widespread, following the Pleistocene ice ages, grasslands expanded in range in the hotter, drier climates, and began to become the dominant land feature worldwide. Grasslands often occur in areas with annual precipitation between 600 mm and 1,500 mm and average annual temperatures ranges from −5 and 20 °C. However, some occur in colder and hotter climatic conditions. Grassland can exist in habitats that are disturbed by grazing or fire. Grasslands dominated by unsown wild-plant communities can be called natural or semi-natural habitats. The majority of grasslands in temperate climates are semi-natural and these grasslands contain many species of wild plants – grasses, sedges, rushes and herbs –25 or more species per square metre is not unusual. Chalk downlands in England can support over 40 species per square metre, in many parts of the world, few examples have escaped agricultural improvement. For example, original North American prairie grasslands or lowland wildflower meadows in the UK are now rare and their associated wild flora equally threatened. Some of the worlds largest expanses of grassland are found in African savanna, grasslands may occur naturally or as the result of human activity. Grasslands created and maintained by human activity are called anthropogenic grasslands, hunting peoples around the world often set regular fires to maintain and extend grasslands, and prevent fire-intolerant trees and shrubs from taking hold. The tallgrass prairies in the U. S. Midwest may have been extended eastward into Illinois, Indiana, much grassland in northwest Europe developed after the Neolithic Period, when people gradually cleared the forest to create areas for raising their livestock. Grassland types by Schimper, meadow steppe savannah Grassland types by Ellenberg & Mueller-Dombois, terrestrial herbaceous communities A. Savannas and related grasslands B
9.
Chaparral
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Chaparral is a shrubland or heathland plant community found primarily in the U. S. state of California and in the northern portion of the Baja California Peninsula, Mexico. Chaparral covers 5 percent of the state of California, and associated Mediterranean shrubland an additional 3.5 percent, the name comes from the Spanish word for scrub oak, chaparro. In its natural state, chaparral is characterized by infrequent fires, mature chaparral is characterized by nearly impenetrable, dense thickets. They grow as woody shrubs with hard and small leaves, are non-leaf-dropping, after the first rains following a fire, the landscape is dominated by soft-leaved non-woody annual plants, known as fire followers, which die back with the summer dry period. According to the California Academy of Sciences, Mediterranean shrubland contains more than 20 percent of the plant diversity. The word chaparral is a word from Spanish chaparro, meaning both small and dwarf evergreen oak, which itself comes from the Basque word txapar, with exactly the same meaning. In Central and Southern California chaparral forms a dominant habitat, the following is a short list of birds which are an integral part of the cismontane chaparral ecosystems. Transmontane chaparral features xeric desert climate, not Mediterranean climate habitats, Desert chaparral is a regional ecosystem subset of the deserts and xeric shrublands biome, with some plant species from the California chaparral and woodlands ecoregion. Unlike cismontane chaparral, which forms dense, impenetrable stands of plants, desert chaparral is open, individual shrubs can reach up to 10 feet in height. Transmontane chaparral or desert chaparral is found on the slopes of major mountain range systems on the western sides of the deserts of California. It is distinguished from the cismontane chaparral found on the side of the mountains. Naturally, desert chaparral experiences less rainfall than cismontane chaparral. Plants in this community are characterized by small, hard evergreen leaves, Desert chaparral grows above Californias desert cactus scrub plant community and below the pinyon-juniper woodland. It is further distinguished from the deciduous sub-alpine scrub above the pinyon-juniper woodlands on the side of the Peninsular ranges. Transmontane chaparral typically grows on the northern slopes of the southern Transverse Ranges. It can also be found in higher-elevation sky islands in the interior of the deserts, there is overlap of animals with those of the adjacent desert and pinyon-juniper communities. Canis latrans, coyotes Lynx rufus, bobcats Neotoma sp, the Chaparral area receives about 38–100 cm of precipitation a year. This makes the chaparral most vulnerable to fire in the late summer, the chaparral ecosystem as a whole is adapted to be able to recover from infrequent wildfires, indeed, chaparral regions are known culturally and historically for their impressive fires
10.
Eucalyptus
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Eucalyptus /ˌjuːkəˈlɪptəs/ LHeritier 1789 is a diverse genus of flowering trees and shrubs in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. Members of the genus dominate the flora of Australia. There are more than 700 species of eucalyptus and most are native to Australia, one species, Eucalyptus deglupta, ranges as far north as the Philippines. Of the 15 species found outside Australia, just nine are exclusively non-Australian, species of eucalyptus are cultivated widely in the tropical and temperate world, including the Americas, Europe, Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East, China, and the Indian subcontinent. However, the range over which many eucalypts can be planted in the zone is constrained by their limited cold tolerance. Australia is covered by 92,000,000 hectares of eucalypt forest, Eucalyptus is one of three similar genera that are commonly referred to as eucalypts, the others being Corymbia and Angophora. Many species, though by no means all, are known as gum trees because they exude copious kino from any break in the bark. The generic name is derived from the Greek words ευ well and καλύπτω to cover, Eucalyptus oil finds many uses like in aromatherapy, as a cure for joint pains. Eucalyptus trees show allelopathic effects, they release compounds which inhibit other plant species from growing nearby, on warm days, eucalyptus forests are sometimes shrouded in a smog-like mist of vaporised volatile organic compounds, the Australian Blue Mountains take their name from the haze. A mature eucalyptus may take the form of a low shrub or a large tree. The species can be divided into three main habits and four size categories, as a generalisation forest trees are single-stemmed and have a crown forming a minor proportion of the whole tree height. Woodland trees are single-stemmed, although they may branch at a distance above ground level. Many mallee trees may be so low-growing as to be considered a shrub, two other tree forms are notable in Western Australia and described using the native names mallet and marlock. The mallet is a small to medium-sized tree that does not produce lignotubers and has a long trunk. This is the habit of mature healthy specimens of Eucalyptus occidentalis, E. astringens, E. spathulata, E. gardneri, E. dielsii, E. forrestiana, E. salubris, E. clivicola. The smooth bark of mallets often has a satiny sheen and may be white, cream, grey, green, or copper. The term marlock has been used, in Forest Trees of Australia, it is defined as a small tree without lignotubers. They usually grow in more or less pure stands, clearly recognisable examples are stands of E. platypus, E. vesiculosa, and the unrelated E. stoatei
11.
Lake Chabot Regional Park
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Lake Chabot Regional Park is a regional park located in the southern Berkeley Hills in Alameda County, California. It is part of the East Bay Regional Parks system, Lake Chabot is a reservoir located in the park. The dam and reservoirs water are part of the East Bay Municipal Utility District water system, official Lake Chabot Regional Park website EBMUD official website
12.
Redwood Regional Park
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Redwood Regional Park is a park of the East Bay Regional Parks District in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is located in the hills east of Oakland, the park contains the largest remaining natural stand of coast redwood found in the East Bay. The park is part of a belt of coast redwood extending south to Leona Canyon Regional Open Space Preserve. Redwood forests are commonly found closer to the coast where the air is cool. In the Bay Area, such forests are found in the Santa Cruz Mountains, the unique geographical circumstances of the redwood forest in Redwood Regional Park create coastal conditions. Winds funneled through the Golden Gate flow directly across the Bay and are channeled into the valley in which the Montclair District of Oakland is situated. This valley is also well-watered all year round and is protected from extremes of temperature, up to the middle of the 19th century, the bulk of the redwood forest lay in the Redwood Creek valley, with extensions to the surrounding ridges. In 1826 British navy captain Frederick William Beechey used the Navigation Trees, however, logging from 1845 to 1860 wiped out the original trees, leaving only their stumps. A second logging occurred after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, in this instance the second growth redwoods as well as the stumps from the first generation trees were logged, the site of which is registered as California Historical Landmark #962. The redwoods contained in todays park are third-growth trees, many of which are over 100 years old. Redwood Regional Park official web page Redwood Regional full trail map
13.
Trail
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A trail is usually a path, track or unpaved lane or road, though the term is also applied, in North America, to routes along rivers, and sometimes to highways. In the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland path or footpath is the term for a walking trail. There are also unpaved trails used by dirt bikes and other off-road vehicles, in some places, like the Alps, trails are used for moving cattle and other livestock. In the US, the term was used for a route into or through wild territory used by emigrants. In Australia, the track can be used interchangeably with trail. Walkway is used similarly in St. Johns, Newfoundland, Canada, in the United Kingdom, the term trail is in common usage. Longer distance walking routes, and government-promoted long distance paths, collectively known as National Trails, are frequently called ways, as in the Pennine Way. Generally the term footpath is preferred for pedestrian routes, including long distance trails, track is used for wider paths, often used for hiking. The terms bridleway, byway, restricted byway are all recognised legal terms, the increased popularity of mountain biking has led to a proliferation of mountain bike trails in many countries. Often these will be grouped to form complexes, known as trail centers. A particularly unusual use of the term is in the Canadian province of Alberta, Shared use may be achieved by sharing a trail easement, but within it maintaining segregated and sometimes also separated trail treads. This is common in rail trails, Shared use may also refer to alternate day arrangements, whereby two uses are segregated by being permitted on alternate days. The Trans Canada Trail can be used by hikers, walkers, cyclists, horseback riders, the network makes use of towpaths on river banks and disused railway or vicinal tramway lines. Old railway lines have been leased by the Walloon Government for 99 years using emphyteutic lease contracts, where necessary, new paths are created to link parts of the network. Thus the right to cycle exists even though it may be difficult to exercise on occasion, Cyclists using a bridleway are obliged to give way to other users on foot or horseback. The seawall in Stanley Park, Vancouver, Canada is popular for walking, running, cycling, there are two paths, one for skaters and cyclists and the other for pedestrians. The lane for cyclists and skaters goes one-way in a counterclockwise loop, foreshoreway is a term used in Australia for a type of greenway that provides a public right-of-way along the edge of the sea open to both walkers and cyclists. A forest road is a type of access road, built mainly for the forest industry
14.
Hiking
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Hiking is the preferred term, in Canada and the United States, for a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails, in the countryside, while the word walking is used for shorter, particularly urban walks. On the other hand, in the United Kingdom, and the Republic of Ireland, the word hiking is also often used in the UK, along with rambling, hillwalking, and fell walking. The term bushwalking is endemic to Australia, having been adopted by the Sydney Bush Walkers club in 1927, in New Zealand a long, vigorous walk or hike is called tramping. It is an activity with numerous hiking organizations worldwide. In the United States, Canada, the Republic of Ireland, a day hike refers to a hike that can be completed in a single day. However, in the United Kingdom, the walking is also used, as well as rambling. In Northern England, Including the Lake District and Yorkshire Dales, fellwalking describes hill or mountain walks, hiking sometimes involves bushwhacking and is sometimes referred to as such. This specifically refers to walking through dense forest, undergrowth, or bushes. In extreme cases of bushwhacking, where the vegetation is so dense that human passage is impeded, the Australian term bushwalking refers to both on and off-trail hiking. Common terms for hiking used by New Zealanders are tramping, walking or bushwalking, trekking is the preferred word used to describe multi-day hiking in the mountainous regions of India, Pakistan, Nepal, North America, South America, Iran and in the highlands of East Africa. Hiking a long-distance trail from end-to-end is also referred to as trekking, in North America, multi-day hikes, usually with camping, are referred to as backpacking. The idea of taking a walk in the countryside for pleasure developed in the 18th-century, in earlier times walking generally indicated poverty and was also associated with vagrancy. Thomas West, an English priest, popularized the idea of walking for pleasure in his guide to the Lake District of 1778. To this end he included various stations or viewpoints around the lakes, published in 1778 the book was a major success. Another famous early exponent of walking for pleasure, was the English poet William Wordsworth, in 1790 he embarked on an extended tour of France, Switzerland, and Germany, a journey subsequently recorded in his long autobiographical poem The Prelude. His famous poem Tintern Abbey was inspired by a visit to the Wye Valley made during a tour of Wales in 1798 with his sister Dorothy Wordsworth. Wordsworths friend Coleridge was another keen walker and in the autumn of 1799, he and Wordsworth undertook a three weeks tour of the Lake District. John Keats, who belonged to the generation of Romantic poets began, in June 1818, a walking tour of Scotland, Ireland
15.
Equestrianism
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Equestrianism, more often known as riding, horseback riding or horse riding, refers to the skill of riding, driving, steeplechasing or vaulting with horses. This broad description includes the use of horses for practical working purposes, transportation, recreational activities, artistic or cultural exercises, Horses are trained and ridden for practical working purposes such as in police work or for controlling herd animals on a ranch. They are also used in sports including, but not limited to, dressage, endurance riding, eventing, reining, show jumping, tent pegging, vaulting, polo, horse racing, driving. Some popular forms of competition are grouped together at horse shows, Horses are used for non-competitive recreational riding such as fox hunting, trail riding or hacking. There is public access to trails in almost every part of the world, many parks, ranches. Horses are also used for therapeutic purposes, both in specialized paraequestrian competition as well as non-competitive riding to improve health and emotional development. Horses are also driven in harness racing, at shows and in other types of exhibition, historical reenactment or ceremony. In some parts of the world, they are used for practical purposes such as farming. Horses continue to be used in service, in traditional ceremonies, police and volunteer mounted patrols. Riding halls enable the training of horse and rider in all weathers as well as indoor competition riding, though there is controversy over the exact date horses were domesticated and when they were first ridden, the best estimate is that horses first were ridden approximately 3500 BC. Indirect evidence suggests that horses were ridden long before they were driven, however, the most unequivocal early archaeological evidence of equines put to working use was of horses being driven. Chariot burials about 2500 BC present the most direct evidence of horses used as working animals. In ancient times chariot warfare was followed by the use of war horses as light, the horse played an important role throughout human history all over the world, both in warfare and in peaceful pursuits such as transportation, trade and agriculture. Horses lived in North America, but died out at the end of the Ice Age, Horses were brought back to North America by European explorers, beginning with the second voyage of Columbus in 1493. Humans appear to have expressed a desire to know which horse were the fastest. Gambling on horse races appears to go hand-in hand with racing and has a history as well. Thoroughbreds have the pre-eminent reputation as a breed, but other breeds also race. Under saddle, Thoroughbred horse racing is the most popular form worldwide, in the UK, it is known as flat racing and is governed by the Jockey Club in the United Kingdom
16.
Cycling
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Cycling, also called bicycling or biking, is the use of bicycles for transport, recreation, exercise or sport. Persons engaged in cycling are referred to as cyclists, bikers, or less commonly, apart from two-wheeled bicycles, cycling also includes the riding of unicycles, tricycles, quadracycles, recumbent and similar human-powered vehicles. Bicycles were introduced in the 19th century and now approximately one billion worldwide. They are the means of transportation in many parts of the world. Cycling is widely regarded as an effective and efficient mode of transportation optimal for short to moderate distances. Cycling also offers a reduced consumption of fuels, less air or noise pollution. These lead to financial cost to the user as well as to society at large. By fitting bicycle racks on the front of buses, transit agencies can significantly increase the areas they can serve, in many countries, the most commonly used vehicle for road transport is a utility bicycle. These have frames with relaxed geometry, protecting the rider from shocks of the road, utility bicycles tend to be equipped with accessories such as mudguards, pannier racks and lights, which extends their usefulness on a daily basis. As the bicycle is so effective as a means of various companies have developed methods of carrying anything from the weekly shop to children on bicycles. Certain countries rely heavily on bicycles and their culture has developed around the bicycle as a form of transport. In Europe, Denmark and the Netherlands have the most bicycles per capita, road bikes tend to have a more upright shape and a shorter wheelbase, which make the bike more mobile but harder to ride slowly. The design, coupled with low or dropped handlebars, requires the rider to bend forward more, making use of stronger muscles, the price of a new bicycle can range from US$50 to more than US$20,000, depending on quality, type and weight. However, UCI regulations stipulate a legal race bike cannot weigh less than 6.8 kg, being measured for a bike and taking it for a test ride are recommended before buying. The drivetrain components of the bike should also be considered, a middle grade dérailleur is sufficient for a beginner, although many utility bikes are equipped with hub gears. If the rider plans a significant amount of hillclimbing a triple-chainrings crankset gear system may be preferred, otherwise, the relatively lighter and less expensive double chainring may be better. Much simpler fixed wheel bikes are also available, many road bikes, along with mountain bikes, include clipless pedals to which special shoes attach, via a cleat, enabling the rider to pull on the pedals as well as push. For basic maintenance and repairs cyclists can carry a pump, a repair kit, a spare inner tube, and tire levers
17.
Marksman
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In popular and historical usage, sharpshooter and marksman are considered synonyms. Within the shooting sports and military usages today, however, sharpshooter and marksman refer to different levels of skill. Specifically, in the US Army, marksman is a rating below sharpshooter, four levels of skill are generally recognized today in both military and civilian shooting circles, unqualified, marksman, sharpshooter, and expert. Marksmanship badges for the three qualified levels are commonly awarded to civilian and military shooters who attain proficiency in shooting higher than unqualified. Snipers are also tasked with responsibilities other than delivering long-range fire—specifically, conducting reconnaissance. In the Middle Ages, in the first use of the marksman was given to the royal archers, or bowmen, of a palace guard. This was around the 10th century, although records of some 9th century English Kings show the listings of groups of marksmen specifically chosen for their militaries, in the Australian Army, marksmanship is currently recognized by the award of one of three skill-at-arms badges. The Skill at Arms Badge consists of a representation of crossed.303 Short Magazine Lee–Enfield rifles and is awarded for achieving a prescribed standard of shooting skill and this must be repeated within twelve months for the badge to be awarded in perpetuity to the recipient. The Snipers Badge is similar in design but incorporates the letter S into the design and is awarded to soldiers who qualify on the Army Snipers Course. The Army Top 20 Badge consists of crossed.303 SMLE rifles upon a laurel wreath and is awarded to the final 20 competitors in the annual Champion Shot for the Army, the winner of this competition is also awarded the Champion Shots Medal. Only one badge may be worn, in the British Armed Forces, marksman is traditionally the highest shooting rating and holders may wear a crossed rifles badge on the lower sleeve. From Army Operational Shooting Policy for the Annual Personal Weapons Test Combat Infantryman, Marksman, to qualify for Marksman all practices are to be completed and the firer must achieve a score of 55 or more of the total Highest Possible Score for the entire shoot. Soldiers achieving a non-marksman passing score are NOT permitted to re-shoot practices in order to qualify for Marksman, Infantry soldiers who qualify as Marksmen during the Combat Infantrymans Course are entitled to retain the award on joining their units. Soldiers who qualify as Marksmen are entitled to wear the Marksman badge for one year before they must requalify, in the United States Army and Marine Corps, the marksmanship of the soldiers is ranked based on their skill, marksman-sharpshooter-expert. Holders of each level wear qualification badges below their ribbons with bars for the weapons they qualify in, in the United States Navy and the United States Coast Guard, full-sized medals are only issued at the expert level. Both services award separate medals for pistol and rifle proficiency, the United States Air Force gives just a ribbon for qualifying at the expert level, although a bronze star can be earned if the wearer qualifies on both of these types of small arms. Within the United States military, a marksman in the U. S. Army is referred to as Squad Designated Marksman, and a marksman in the Marines is called a Designated Marksman. The United States Army particularly emphasizes the concept, according to US Army Field Manual 3-21.8 a typical United States Army fireteam consists of four soldiers
18.
Lake Chabot
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Lake Chabot is a man-made lake covering 317 acres in Alameda County, California. Part of the lies within Oakland city limits, but most of it lies in unincorporated Castro Valley. It was formed by the damming of San Leandro Creek, the Lake Chabot dam was built in 1874-1875 as a primary source for water in the East Bay. At that time, the dam and reservoir were known simply as the San Leandro Reservoir and it was renamed Lower San Leandro Reservoir when another dam was built on the same creek upstream of the original lake, creating Upper San Leandro Reservoir. Lake Chabot was closed to recreation for 91 years, legislation passed in the 1960s opened the lake for controlled recreation uses. Currently, the lake serves as an emergency water supply. For this reason, visitors are asked to observe certain necessary regulations to keep the waters pure, there are also blooms of toxic blue-green algae in the lake during the summer and fall that make contact with the water dangerous. Coastal surveys show the marsh appearing sometime between 1855 and 1895, though logging of the San Antonio Forest may have played a role. Today, Arrowhead Marsh is one of the last remaining wetlands in the East Bay, regional Shoreline, while nearly all of the surrounding historic marsh has been covered with industrial development. The San Leandro Earth Dam of the Oakland Water Works, in Engineering News and American Railway Journal
19.
Anthony Chabot
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Chabot was raised on a farm in La Presentation, near Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec, Canada. He was one of sixteen children and the son of a farmer, when he was sixteen years old, he left home, eventually settling in California in 1849. He began working in the industry in Nevada City, building ditches to supply the mines with water. In 1852 and 1853 he and Edward Matteson, while working at Buckeye Hill and American Hill respectively, though it revolutionized gold mining, the technique also caused severe environmental damage. The vast quantities of sediment that were released in the blasting washed downstream, burying homes, angry farmers eventually brought an end to hydraulic mining when they scored a victory in federal court in 1884. In 1854 Chabot also established two sawmills in Sierra County, two years later he abandoned the mining business and went to San Francisco, where he built the city’s first public water system, bringing the waters of Lobos Creek into San Francisco. This led to projects supplying other cities water, including Portland, Maine and Milwaukee. Chabot founded the Contra Costa Water Company in 1866, which developed a monopoly on supplying water to Oakland, first he built a dam at Temescal Creek, creating Lake Temescal. He began work on a larger dam at San Leandro Creek before the Temescal dam was even completed. In 1870, his company completed a dam of San Leandro Creek, creating a reservoir that would later be named Lake Chabot, in or about 1869, Chabot built waterworks for the city of San Jose, and about the same time constructed those for the supply of Vallejo. In 1883, Chabot donated a telescope and the fund to build an observatory to the city of Oakland, the observatory was to be named Oakland Observatory but quickly became known as the Chabot Observatory. The original observatory was built in Lafayette Square, near downtown Oakland, in 2000 it moved 2 miles north to a higher elevation on Skyline Boulevard. At that time it underwent significant expansion and became known as the Chabot Space & Science Center, other charitable activities included building housing for veterans in Yountville and a shelter in Oakland for unemployed women and daycare for the children of working women. He died on January 6,1888 and is buried in Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland, Lake Chabot, a manmade lake located in northern Vallejo, California. Lake Chabot Road, a road between San Leandro, California and Castro Valley, California, Chabot Drive, a street in Oakland, California
20.
Public water system
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Public water system is a regulatory term used in the United States and Canada, referring to certain utilities and organizations providing drinking water. The term public in public water system refers to the people drinking the water, some US states have varying definitions. Over 286 million Americans get their tap water from a community water system, eight percent of the community water systems—large municipal water systems—provide water to 82 percent of the US population. The United States Environmental Protection Agency has defined three types of water systems, Community Water System. A public water system supplies water to the same population year-round. A public water system that supplies water to at least 25 of the same people at least six months per year. Some examples are schools, factories, office buildings, and hospitals which have their own water systems, a public water system that provides water in a place such as a gas station or campground where people do not remain for long periods of time. There are over 150,000 public water systems, Approximately 52,000 CWS serve the majority of the U. S. population Approximately 85,000 NTNCWS Approximately 18,000 TNCWS. Sources of drinking water are subject to contamination and require treatment to remove disease-causing contaminants. Contamination of drinking water supplies can occur in the water as well as in the distribution system after water treatment has already occurred. There are many sources of contamination, including naturally occurring chemicals and minerals, local land use practices, manufacturing processes. The presence of contaminants in water can lead to health effects, including gastrointestinal illness, reproductive problems. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention publishes a list of the causes of waterborne outbreaks in public water systems. The Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Nova Scotia also use this definition, Water supply Drinking water quality in the United States Water supply and sanitation in Canada
21.
Ohlone
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The Ohlone, named Costanoan by early Spanish colonists, are a Native American people of the Northern California coast. When Spanish explorers and missionaries arrived in the late 18th century, at that time they spoke a variety of related languages. The Ohlone languages belonged to the Costanoan sub-family of the Utian language family, the term Ohlone has been used in place of Costanoan since the 1970s by some descendant groups and by most ethnographers, historians, and writers of popular literature. In pre-colonial times, the Ohlone lived in more than 50 distinct landholding groups and they lived by hunting, fishing, and gathering, in the typical ethnographic California pattern. The members of various bands interacted freely with one another. The Ohlone people practiced the Kuksu religion, prior to the Gold Rush, the northern California region was one of the most densely populated regions north of Mexico. However, in the years 1769 to 1833, the Spanish missions in California had an effect on Ohlone culture. The Ohlone living today belong to one or another of a number of distinct groups, most. The Muwekma Ohlone Tribe has members from around the San Francisco Bay Area, and is composed of descendants of the Ohlones/Costanoans from the San Jose, Santa Clara, and San Francisco missions. The Ohlone/Costanoan Esselen Nation, consisting of descendants of intermarried Rumsen Costanoan, the Amah-Mutsun Tribe are descendants of Mutsun Costanoan speakers of Mission San Juan Bautista, inland from Monterey Bay. Most members of group of Rumsien language, descendants from Mission San Carlos. These groups, and others with smaller memberships are separately petitioning the government for tribal recognition. The Ohlone inhabited fixed village locations, moving temporarily to gather seasonal foodstuffs like acorns and their vast region included the San Francisco Peninsula, Santa Clara Valley, Santa Cruz Mountains, Monterey Bay area, as well as present-day Alameda County, Contra Costa County and the Salinas Valley. Prior to Spanish contact, the Ohlone formed an association of approximately 50 different nations or tribes with about 50 to 500 members each. Over 50 distinct Ohlone tribes and villages have been recorded, the Ohlone villages interacted through trade, intermarriage and ceremonial events, as well as some internecine conflict. Cultural arts included basket-weaving skills, seasonal ceremonial dancing events, female tattoos, ear and nose piercings, the Ohlone subsisted mainly as hunter-gatherers and in some ways harvesters. Their staple diet consisted of crushed acorns, nuts, grass seeds and these food sources were abundant in earlier times and maintained by careful work, and through active management of all the natural resources at hand. Animals in their mild climate included the grizzly bear, elk, pronghorn, the streams held salmon, perch, and stickleback
22.
Ranchos of California
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The Spanish and later Mexican governments encouraged settlement of Alta California by giving prominent men large land grants called ranchos, usually two or more square leagues. Land-grant titles were government-issued, permanent, unencumbered property-ownership rights to land called ranchos, devoted to raising cattle and sheep, the owners of the ranchos attempted to pattern themselves after the landed gentry of Spain. Their workers included Californian Native Americans who had learned to speak Spanish, Spain made about 30 grants between 1784 and 1821, and Mexico granted about 270 more between 1833 and 1846. The ranchos established land-use patterns and place names that are still in use in California today, Rancho boundaries became the basis for Californias land survey system, and can still be found on modern maps and land titles. Ranchos were partially based on geography, such as access to river water, Land development in the 20th and 21st century often follow the boundaries of the ranchos, and often retain the original name. For example, Rancho San Diego, an unincorporated rural-burb east of San Diego, or Rancho Bernardo, during Spanish rule, the ranchos were concessions from the Spanish crown, permitting settlement and granting grazing rights on specific tracts of land, while the crown retained the title. The land concessions were usually measured in leagues, a league of land would encompass a square that is one Spanish league on each side – approximately 4,428 acres. The Spanish and Mexican governments made a number of grants from 1785 to 1846. It was not until the Mexican era that the titles to the plots of land were granted to individuals, in 1821, Mexico achieved its independence from Spain, and California came under control of the Mexican government. The 1824 Mexican Colony Law established rules for petitioning for land grants in California, and by 1828, the Acts sought to break the land monopoly of the missions and also paved the way for luring additional settlers to California by making land grants easier to obtain. Secularization was implemented between 1834 and 1836, the Mexican government allowed the padres to keep only the church, priests quarters and priests garden. The army troops guarding each Mission were dismissed, a commissioner would oversee the missions crops and herds, while the land was divided up as communal pasture, a town plot, and individual plots for each Indian family. The Mission Indians, freed from the missions, often joined other tribes or sought work on the new ranchos along the troops formerly assigned to each mission. The number of Mexican land grants greatly increased after the secularization of the missions in 1834, the Mexican rancho grants were provisional. The boundaries, on paper, had to be surveyed and marked. This produced a diseño, a topological map, to define the area. Since there were very few surveyors this requirement was seldom met, the grantee could not initially subdivide or rent out the land. The land had to be used for grazing or cultivated, some kind of residential house had to be built within a year—most were initially simple adobe walled cabins
23.
Rancho San Lorenzo
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Rancho San Lorenzo was a 26, 722-acre Mexican land grant given in 1841 by Governor Juan Alvarado to Guillermo Castro a career soldier posted to the Pueblo of San José. The land grant included present day Hayward, San Lorenzo, and Castro Valley, including Crow Canyon, Cull Canyon, the grant was located on the route of El Camino Viejo. Castros grant was patented in 1865, soon after, Castro began to sell off his land to pay debts. The last of his holding was sold in a sale in 1864 to Faxon Atherton. Atherton in turn began selling off his portion in smaller parcels, Guillermo and Maria Louisa Peralta Castro owned Rancho San Lorenzo Alta. Francisco and Barbara Soto owned an adjacent rancho called Rancho San Lorenzo Baja - sometimes called San Lorenzito, Barbara Soto was Guillermo Castros sister. Sotos grant was patented at 6,686 acres in 1877, Ranchos of Alameda County, California Ranchos San Lorenzo, at The Bancroft Library
24.
Rancho San Antonio (Peralta)
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The grant, issued on August 3,1820, embraced the sites of the cities of San Leandro, Oakland, Alameda, Emeryville, Piedmont, Berkeley, and Albany. Luís María Peralta never lived on the rancho himself, but his four sons, with their wives, families, landless Mexican laborers, and surrounding native peoples, the Peralta sons established the first Spanish-speaking communities in the East Bay. As the rancho prospered, the Peralta brothers built newer and bigger houses, the hacienda became the social and commercial center of this vast rancho. Annual rodeos and cattle round-ups, horse racing, and games often took place here, the Peralta family built a total of 16 houses over a fifty-year period on Rancho San Antonio. There were eleven adobes, three houses, one brick house, and one built of logs and dirt. Son Domingos home was located on Codornices Creek adjacent to the site of what is today St. Marys College High School, son Vicentes home was located in what is today the heart of Oaklands Temescal district. In 1842, Luís María Peralta decided to split the rancho among his sons and his five daughters received his cattle and his San Jose adobe and land. He died in 1851, but not before telling his sons to steer clear of the California gold rush, stating, however, it would not be easy for the Peraltas to hold on to their property. S. Federal Land Act required the Californios to prove their land titles in court, in the interim, squatters continued to overrun Rancho San Antonio, stealing and killing cattle and even subdividing and selling land belonging to the Peraltas. Although the United States Supreme Court confirmed the Peralta title in 1856, the Peralta sisters apparently felt cheated out of the family land, and contested their brothers claim to the Rancho San Antonio land grant. The court case, known as the Sisters Title case was resolved in the brothers favor by the California Supreme Court in 1859. By 1860, the land holdings had been substantially reduced, partly to pay for the previous decades litigation. Among the lawyers representing them was Horace Carpentier who acquired large chunks of the Peralta lands as compensation for his services, in 1872, the combined property of the sons of Luís María Peralta was assessed at approximately $200,000. By the time of Antonio Peraltas death in 1879, he only had 23 acres left of the original 16,067 acres his father gave him and that house and a brick house are the only two remaining structures out of the entire complex. The 1870 House now sits in Peralta Hacienda Historical Park in Oakland and is open for tours, joaquin Miller House, National Register of Historic Places, NPS-66000204. Rancho San Antonio, California Historical Landmark #246, the Peraltas and Their Houses, by Jacob N. Bowman, published by the Alameda County Historical Society Peralta Hacienda Historical Park - Museum of History and Community
25.
Sequoia sempervirens
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Sequoia sempervirens /sᵻˈkɔɪ. ə sɛmpərˈvaɪrənz/ is the sole living species of the genus Sequoia in the cypress family Cupressaceae. Common names include coast redwood, coastal redwood and California redwood and it is an evergreen, long-lived, monoecious tree living 1, 200–1,800 years or more. This species includes the tallest living trees on Earth, reaching up to 379 feet in height and these trees are also among the oldest living things on Earth. The name sequoia sometimes refers to the subfamily Sequoioideae, which includes S. sempervirens along with Sequoiadendron, here, the term redwood on its own refers to the species covered in this article, and not to the other two species. Scottish botanist David Don described the redwood as the evergreen taxodium in his colleague Aylmer Bourke Lamberts 1824 work A description of the genus Pinus, austrian botanist Stephan Endlicher erected the genus Sequoia in his 1847 work Synopsis coniferarum, giving the redwood its current binomial name of Sequoia sempervirens. The redwood is one of three living species, each in its own genus, in the subfamily Sequoioideae, molecular studies have shown the three to be each others closest relatives, generally with the redwood and giant sequoia as each others closest relatives. However, Yang and colleagues in 2010 queried the polyploid state of the redwood, further analysis strongly supported the hypothesis that Sequoia was the result of a hybridization event involving Metasequoia and Sequoiadendron. Thus, Yang and colleagues hypothesize that the inconsistent relationships among Metasequoia, Sequoia, the coast redwood can reach 115 m tall with a trunk diameter of 9 m. It has a crown, with horizontal to slightly drooping branches. The bark can be thick, up to 1-foot, and quite soft and fibrous, with a bright red-brown color when freshly exposed. The root system is composed of shallow, wide-spreading lateral roots, the leaves are variable, being 15–25 mm long and flat on young trees and shaded shoots in the lower crown of old trees. On the other hand, they are scale-like, 5–10 mm long on shoots in full sun in the crown of older trees. They are dark green above and have two blue-white stomatal bands below, leaf arrangement is spiral, but the larger shade leaves are twisted at the base to lie in a flat plane for maximum light capture. The species is monoecious, with pollen and seed cones on the same plant, the seed cones are ovoid, 15–32 millimetres long, with 15–25 spirally arranged scales, pollination is in late winter with maturation about 8–9 months after. Each cone scale bears three to seven seeds, each seed 3–4 millimetres long and 0.5 millimetres broad, the seeds are released when the cone scales dry out and open at maturity. The pollen cones are ovular and 4–6 millimetres long and its genetic makeup is unusual among conifers, being a hexaploid and possibly allopolyploid. Both the mitochondrial and chloroplast genomes of the redwood are paternally inherited, the prevailing elevation range is 98–2,460 ft above sea level, occasionally down to 0 and up to 3,000 ft. They usually grow in the mountains where precipitation from the incoming moisture off the ocean is greater, the tallest and oldest trees are found in deep valleys and gullies, where year-round streams can flow, and fog drip is regular
26.
Azores
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Its main industries are agriculture, dairy farming, livestock, fishing, and tourism, which is becoming the major service activity in the region. In addition, the government of the Azores employs a large percentage of the population directly or indirectly in the service, the main settlement of the Azores is Ponta Delgada. There are nine major Azorean islands and a cluster, in three main groups. These are Flores and Corvo, to the west, Graciosa, Terceira, São Jorge, Pico, and Faial in the centre, and São Miguel, Santa Maria, and they extend for more than 600 km and lie in a northwest-southeast direction. All the islands have volcanic origins, although some, such as Santa Maria, have had no recorded activity since the islands were settled, mount Pico, on the island of Pico, is the highest point in Portugal, at 2,351 m. The Azores are actually some of the tallest mountains on the planet, measured from their base at the bottom of the ocean to their peaks, which thrust high above the surface of the Atlantic. The climate of the Azores is very mild for such a location, being influenced by its distance to continents. Due to the influence, temperatures remain mild year-round. Daytime temperatures normally fluctuate between 16 °C and 25 °C depending on season, temperatures above 30 °C or below 3 °C are unknown in the major population centres. It is also generally wet and cloudy, the culture, dialect, cuisine, and traditions of the Azorean islands vary considerably, because these once-uninhabited and remote islands were settled sporadically over a span of two centuries. However, these kinds of structures have always used in the Azores to store cereals. Detailed examination and dating to authenticate the validity of these speculations is lacking and it is unclear whether these structures are natural or man-made and whether they predate the 15th-century Portuguese colonization of the Azores. Solid confirmation of a human presence in the archipelago has not yet been published. The islands were known in the century and parts of them appear in the Atlas Catalan. In 1427, a captain sailing for Henry the Navigator, possibly Gonçalo Velho, rediscovered the Azores, but this is not certain. In Thomas Ashes 1813 work, A History of the Azores, the author identified a Fleming, Joshua Vander Berg of Bruges and he stated that the Portuguese explored the area and claimed it for Portugal. Other stories note the discovery of the first islands by sailors in the service of Henry the Navigator, although there are few documents to support the claims. Although it is said that the archipelago received its name from the goshawk
27.
Trad jazz
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A Dixieland revival began in the United States on the West Coast in the late 1930s as a backlash to the Chicago style, which was close to swing. Lu Watters and the Yerba Buena Jazz Band, and trombonist Turk Murphy, adopted the repertoire of Joe King Oliver, Jelly Roll Morton, Louis Armstrong, handy, bands included banjo and tuba in the rhythm sections. Early King Oliver pieces exemplify this style of hot jazz, however, as individual performers began stepping to the front as soloists, other influential stylists who are still revered in traditional jazz circles today include Sidney Bechet, Bix Beiderbecke, Wingy Manone and Muggsy Spanier. Many artists of the big band era, including Glenn Miller, Gene Krupa, by 1958 his band included three saxophones. During the 1950s and well into the 1960s the Three Bs Chris Barber, Acker Bilk, more light-hearted versions were offered by the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, the Temperance Seven and the New Vaudeville Band. Dixieland stylings can be here and there on records by the Rolling Stones, the Beatles, the Small Faces. During the 1950s a number of amateur bands had strong local followings. These bands included the Merseysippi Jazz Band, still active, which toured overseas, Second City Jazzband, Steel City Stompers, Clyde Valley Stompers, and the Saints Jazzband
28.
Yerba Buena Jazz Band
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Lu Watters & the Yerba Buena Jazz Band is the name of the Traditional Jazz revival band founded by Lu Watters. Notable members include singer and banjoist Clancy Hayes, clarinetist Bob Helm, trumpeter Bob Scobey, trombonist Turk Murphy, tubist/bassist Dick Lammi, the band broke up in 1950. In the late 1930s, cornetist Lu Watters was playing commercial dance gigs in the San Francisco area, not satisfied with this music, he assembled a group of musicians to play traditional jazz music. His rehearsal spot was the Big Bear Lodge on Redwood Road in the Oakland hills, rehearsing with him were trombonist Turk Murphy, trumpeter Bob Scobey, clarinetist Bob Helm, and pianist Wally Rose. His break came when the group landed a job playing at the Dawn Club on Annie Street in San Francisco, when San Francisco Chronicle columnist Herb Caen wrote a slightly disparaging piece about the band, supporters sent in many letters, creating publicity that boosted the bands popularity. Jones Blues Melodisc 1180 Friendless Blues / Im Goin Huntin Hear a broadcast of a performance by Lu Watters
29.
Big band
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A big band is a type of musical ensemble associated with playing jazz music and which became popular during the Swing Era from the early 1930s until the late 1940s. Big Bands evolved with the times and continue to this day, a big band typically consists of approximately 12 to 25 musicians and contains saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. The terms jazz band, jazz ensemble, stage band, jazz orchestra and this does not, however, mean that each one of these names is technically correct for naming a big band specifically. The music is traditionally called charts, improvised solos may be played only when called for by the arranger. There are two periods in the history of popular bands. Beginning in the mid-1920s, big bands, then consisting of 10–25 pieces. At that time they played a form of jazz that involved very little improvisation, which included a string section with violins. A few bands also had violas and cellos, usually one or two along with them, the dance form of jazz was characterized by a sweet and romantic melody. Orchestras tended to stick to the melody as it was written and vocals would be sung, many of these artists changed styles or retired after the introduction of swing music. Although unashamedly commercial, these bands often featured front-rank jazz musicians - for example Paul Whiteman employed Bix Beiderbecke, there were also all-girl bands such as Helen Lewis and Her All-Girl Jazz Syncopators. Towards the end of the 1920s, a new form of Big Band emerged which was more authentically jazz and this form of music never gained the popularity of the sweet dance form of jazz. The few recordings made in form of jazz were labelled race records and were intended for a limited urban audience. Few white musicians were familiar with music, Johnny Mercer. The three major centres in this development were New York City, Chicago and Kansas City, some big ensembles, like the Joe King Oliver outfit played a kind of half arranged, half improvised jazz, often relying on head arrangements. Other great bands, like the one of Luis Russell became a vehicle for star instrumentalists, there the whole arrangement had to promote all the possibilities of the star, although they often contained very good musicians, like Henry Red Allen, J. C. Earl Hines became the star of Chicago with his Grand Terrace Cafe band, meanwhile, in Kansas City and across the Southwest, an earthier, bluesier style was developed by such bandleaders as Benny Moten and, later, by Jay McShann and Jesse Stone. Radio was a factor in gaining notice and fame for Benny Goodman. Soon, others challenged him, and the battles of the bands became a staple at theater performances featuring many groups on one bill
30.
Ropes course
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A ropes course is a challenging outdoor personal development and team building activity which usually consists of high and/or low elements. Low elements take place on the ground or only a few feet above the ground, high elements are usually constructed in trees or made of utility poles and require a belay for safety. An Aerial Adventure Park has a more recreational purpose and it is unclear where and when the first ropes course was created. Obstacle courses have used by the military to train soldiers as far back as the ancient Greeks. The use of belay and risk management systems on such courses was limited or often non-existent, many practitioners cite Georges Hébert as the originator of the modern ropes course. Drawing from his background, Hébert patterned some of his obstacles on obstacles found on the decks of ships. “Hébertism” grew during and between the World Wars, becoming the standard for physical training for the French military. Many ropes courses and challenge course programs in French Canada and Europe are still known as Hébertism courses today. Marble, Colorado, the site of the first Colorado Outward Bound course, has cited as the location of the first ropes course in the USA. Patterned after an obstacle course and similar to the course in use at the Outward Bound school in Aberdyfi, Wales. Belay systems were minimal or non-existent, since the 1980s, ropes course sophistication has evolved considerably. Modern ropes courses incorporate sophisticated belay and safety systems using wire rope, friction devices, modern courses make use of a variety of materials other than trees, including utility poles and steel structures. Today’s courses can be found in a variety of locations, including wooded areas, open fields, a recent trend of themed courses has created a whole new genre of challenge course aimed at recreational pay-to-play users. Recent estimates by builders on the ropes-online listserv estimate that there are more than 7,500 challenge courses in the USA, Adventure Parks with a more recreational-orientation are booming in Europe and awake a great interest in the USA and around the globe. They are usually designed for a volume of visitors and the Forest Adventure Park is very popular. They do not follow an educational concept, but see the individual, physical and mental challenge as a predominantly recreational activity. Neither climbing techniques nor special/specific physical fitness experience are necessary, typical slogans are, Have fun, Test your Courage and Overcome your Own Fears. In an Adventure Park, the independently run a variety of trails of increasing difficulty levels
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Archery
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Archery is the sport, practice or skill of using a bow to propel arrows. The word comes from the Latin arcus, historically, archery has been used for hunting and combat. In modern times, it is mainly a competitive sport and recreational activity, a person who participates in archery is typically called an archer or a bowman, and a person who is fond of or an expert at archery is sometimes called a toxophilite. The bow and arrow seems to have invented in the later Paleolithic or early Mesolithic periods. The oldest signs of its use in Europe come from the Stellmoor in the Ahrensburg valley north of Hamburg, Germany and dates from the late Paleolithic, about 10, 000–9000 BC. The arrows were made of pine and consisted of a mainshaft, there are no definite earlier bows, previous pointed shafts are known, but may have been launched by spear-throwers rather than bows. The oldest bows known so far come from the Holmegård swamp in Denmark, bows and arrows have been present in Egyptian culture since its predynastic origins. In the Levant, artifacts that could be arrow-shaft straighteners are known from the Natufian culture, the Khiamian and PPN A shouldered Khiam-points may well be arrowheads. Classical civilizations, notably the Assyrians, Greeks, Armenians, Persians, Parthians, Indians, Koreans, Chinese, akkadians were the first to use composite bows in war according to the victory stele of Naram-Sin of Akkad. The Welsh longbow proved its worth for the first time in Continental warfare at the Battle of Crécy, in the Americas archery was widespread at European contact. Archery was highly developed in Asia, the Sanskrit term for archery, dhanurveda, came to refer to martial arts in general. In East Asia, Goguryeo, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea was well known for its regiments of skilled archers. Central Asian tribesmen and American Plains Indians became extremely adept at archery on horseback, lightly armoured, but highly mobile archers were excellently suited to warfare in the Central Asian steppes, and they formed a large part of armies that repeatedly conquered large areas of Eurasia. Shorter bows are more suited to use on horseback, and the bow enabled mounted archers to use powerful weapons. It is possible that barbarian peoples were responsible for introducing archery or certain types of bows to their civilized counterparts—the Xiong-nu, similarly, short bows seem to have been introduced to Japan by northeast Asian groups. The development of firearms rendered bows obsolete in warfare, albeit efforts were made to preserve archery practice. In Wales and England, for example, the government tried to practice with the Longbow until the end of the 16th century. This was because it was recognised that the bow had been instrumental to military success during the Hundred Years War, early firearms were inferior in rate-of-fire, and were very susceptible to wet weather
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Clint Eastwood
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Clinton Clint Eastwood Jr. is an American actor, filmmaker, musician, and political figure. These roles, among others, have made Eastwood an enduring icon of masculinity. For his work in the Western film Unforgiven and the sports drama Million Dollar Baby, Eastwood won Academy Awards for Best Director and Best Picture, as well as receiving nominations for Best Actor. Eastwoods greatest commercial successes have been the adventure comedy Every Which Way But Loose and its sequel, the war drama biopic American Sniper set box office records for the largest January release ever and was also the largest opening ever for an Eastwood film. Eastwood received considerable praise in France for several films, including some that were not well received in the United States. Eastwood has been awarded two of Frances highest honors, in 1994 he became a recipient of the Commander of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, in 2000, Eastwood was awarded the Italian Venice Film Festival Golden Lion for lifetime achievement. Since 1967, Eastwood has run his own company, Malpaso. Starting in 1986, Eastwood served for two years as Mayor of Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, a non-partisan office, Eastwood was born Clinton Eastwood Jr. May 31,1930, in San Francisco, California, the son of Clinton Eastwood Sr. and he has one younger sister, Jeanne Bernhardt. Eastwood is of English, Irish, Scottish, and Dutch ancestry and he is descended from Mayflower passenger William Bradford, and through this line is the 12th generation of his family born in North America and the 13th generation to live in North America. His family moved often as his father worked at jobs along the West Coast, settled in Piedmont, California, the Eastwoods lived in a very wealthy part of town, had a swimming pool, belonged to the country club, and each parent drove their own car. Clint attended Piedmont Junior High School, shortly before he was to enter Piedmont High School, he rode his bike on the schools sports field and tore up the wet turf, this resulted in his being asked not to enroll. Clint graduated from the airplane shop, I think that was his major, joked classmate Don Kincaid. Another high school friend, Don Loomis, echoed I dont think he was spending much time at school because he was having a pretty good time elsewhere. I think what happened is he just went off and started having a good time, I just dont think he finished high school, explained Fritz Manes, a boyhood friend two years younger than Eastwood, who remained associated with him until their falling out in the mid-1980s. Biographer Patrick McGilligan notes that high school records are a matter of strict legal confidentiality. Eastwood worked at a number of jobs, including lifeguard, paper carrier, grocery clerk, forest firefighter, Eastwood has said that he tried to enroll at Seattle University but was then drafted into the United States Army during the Korean War. He always dropped the Korean War reference, hoping everyone would conclude that he was in combat, actually, hed been a lifeguard at Fort Ord in northern California for his entire stint in the military, commented Eastwoods former longtime companion, Sondra Locke
33.
True Crime (1999 film)
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True Crime is a 1999 American mystery drama film directed by Clint Eastwood, and based on Andrew Klavans 1995 novel of the same name. Eastwood also stars in the film as a journalist covering the execution of a death row inmate, only to discover that the convict may actually be innocent. He gets permission from his editors boss to investigate, and is told that the top editor would call the Governor, and he thus has a little over 12 hours to confirm his hunch and save Beechum. Everett interviews a prosecution witness, Dale Porterhouse, who saw Beechum at the store where the took place. Everett confronts D. A. Cecelia Nussbaum for putting an innocent man on death row. She reveals that a person was interviewed after the crime, a young man, Warren. Everett decides that Warren, never called as a witness, is probably the real killer and he breaks into the deceased reporters house, suspecting that she had been onto something and finds her file on Warren. Meanwhile, Warden Luther Plunkett also starts to have doubts about Beechums guilt, Everett falls out with his bosses and is fired on the spot, but he points out that his contract entitles him to adequate notice. They ask him how much notice he requires, and, looking at his watch, while working his notice he tracks down Angela Russel, Warrens grandmother. The prison chaplain misrepresents an exchange with Beechum as a confession to the crime. Everett hears about this on the radio and loses heart, on top of this, his wife Barbara has found out about his affair with his editors wife and has turned him out of the house. He is about to start drinking again when he sees a piece on TV that shows a photograph of Amy wearing a locket, Everett drives back to Angelas house. When he tells her about the locket she realizes the truth, Everett now has to get Angela to the Governors house in order to persuade him to order a stay of execution, but it might be too late. The execution uses 3 drugs, a sleep inducer called thiopental, a drug that paralyzes muscles. As they approach the Governors mansion, the first drug has already been injected into Franks bloodstream, the Governor calls, and the doctors try to revive him, while his wife Bonnie bangs on the window calling out for her husband to wake up. Six months later, a week before Christmas, Everett is out buying a stuffed hippo for his daughter, and he catches sight of Frank and his family doing their Christmas shopping. Steve and Frank acknowledge each other, but Franks daughter shouts for him to come on and it received mixed reactions from critics, with a score of 55% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 40 reviews
34.
Alvarado Park
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Alvarado Park is a subsection of Wildcat Canyon Regional Park in Richmond, California and is a National Historic Place. It is located at the mouth of Wildcat Canyon is the Alvarado Park section, between 1909 and 1923, Alvarado Park was a private park that was owned and operated by local residents. In 1923, it was donated to the city of Richmond, later it was admitted into the East Bay Regional Park District. Then, in 1985, it was incorporated into Wildcat Canyon Regional Park, in its early years, Alvarado Park was served by its own streetcar line from the East Shore and Suburban Railway, a Key System precursor, which was later discontinued. The park district made certain improvements including a new play area, conversion of parking into meadows. It was also the home of the Grande Vista Sanitarium, later known as Belgum Sanitarium, though the associated buildings have since burned to the ground, their foundations and the surrounding grounds, including an orchard remain. The park also features distinctive and noted stone masonry, retaining walls, the lampposts are no longer lit. A stonework bridge spans Wildcat Creek in the main entrance. The park district is currently struggling to return the river to a natural state in hopes of restoring its fish population. The park also featured an open-air pavilion dance hall which was converted to a roller rink, National Register of Historic Places listings in Contra Costa County, California
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Briones Regional Park
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The park is located in rolling hills of the East Bay region, near Lafayette, Walnut Creek, and Pleasant Hill. The western end of Briones Regional Park is adjacent to the Briones Reservoir, the park is also home to many animals and birds, such as turkey vultures, black-tailed deer, cougars, coyotes, squirrels, and redtailed hawks. Cattle, sheep, and goat ranchers still use portions of the park for grazing purposes, Lafayette Ridge is within Briones Park, and runs parallel to the city of Lafayette. The Lafayette Ridge Trail is approximately 2 miles long and it begins at the parking lot of Springhill Elementary School and reaches the summit of Russel Peak at 1357 ft in elevation, where it divides into the Russel Peak Trail and Briones Crest Trail. Several other trails branch off of the Lafayette Ridge Trail, most notably the Springhill, the ridges trails offer terrain for mountain biking, with periodic gains/descents of up to 200 ft elevation. The area which includes present day Briones Park and the Russell Reservation were part of the 1842 Mexican land grant of Rancho Boca de la Canada del Pinole granted to the widow of Felipe Briones, the Briones began cattle ranching in the area, which continues to the present day. In 1870, the Briones family sold the rancho, by 1850, Happy Valley Road, which runs along the edge of Briones Regional Park, was the main thoroughfare from Martinez south to the Pueblo of San José, and then up to San Francisco. In 1909, the Peoples Water Company, the precursor to the East Bay Municipal Utility District purchased the land for watershed protection. Since 1966 the University of California has maintained a 283-acre parcel of land in the Briones Hills, known as the Russell Reservation, Briones Regional Park was established in October 1967 by the East Bay Regional Park District
36.
Coyote Hills Regional Park
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Coyote Hills Regional Park is a regional park encompassing nearly 978 acres of land and administered by the East Bay Regional Park District. The park, which was dedicated to use in 1967, is located in Fremont, California. In addition to the hills themselves, the park encloses an area of wetlands. There are a number of sites within the park, preserving evidence of habitation by Native Americans of the Ohlone group of tribes. Access to these sites is not allowed for visitors. There is a network of hiking trails in the park, most of them also available to equestrians. Most of the trails are wide fireroads that go around the hills and the marshes, there are few narrow trails which are off limits to bikers and equestrians. These trails connect to others in the east bay, and the San Francisco Bay Trail passes through the park, cross country meets for local schools are held occasionally in the park. The waters to the south and west of the park part of the San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge. Coyote Hills is home to the remnants of a large Project Nike missile base and it has intact facilities that are in disrepair and some still in place are used as radio transmission & microwave antenna stations. Guard stations are still visible throughout the park, a firing range and aquifer exist on the southernmost hills. The East Bay areas original inhabitants were the ancestors of the Ohlone Indians, at Coyote Hills Regional Park, some of this rich wetland is preserved, along with 2, 000-year-old Tuibun Ohlone Indian shellmound sites. Programs at the main shellmound site allow visitors to see a reconstructed tule house, shade shelter, pit house, large collection of photos and trail descriptions of Coyote Hills Coyote Hills official website Coyote Hills Trail Map
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Del Valle Regional Park
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Del Valle Regional Park is a park of the East Bay Regional Park District in unincorporated Alameda County, California, south of the city of Livermore. The park is 4,316 acres big, the park largely surrounds Lake Del Valle, an artificial reservoir made from the damming of Arroyo Valle, a small river. The lake provides a source of recreation for visitors including swimming, fishing, there are lifeguards present at designated swimming areas. The park also offers 28 miles of hiking, horseback, and bicycle trails, there are many prominent and locally famous cliffjumping locations around the lake including The Rock, The Swallow Bay Cliff, and The Pillars. All can be accessed through various trails surrounding the park, the park can be approached from Mines or Arroyo Road, where the parking meter is often broken. Del Valle Park at the EBRPD website
38.
Garin Regional Park
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Garin Regional Park is a regional park located in Hayward, California, that is part of the East Bay Regional Parks system. It shares a border with sister park Dry Creek Pioneer Regional Park. The park is the site of the former Garin Ranch, sold by Andrew J. Garin to the district in 1966, Ukraina Honcharenko, the former homestead of Ukrainian political émigré Agapius Honcharenko and a California Historical Landmark, is located in the park. The park is situated behind the California State University, East Bay campus, summits in the park reach as high as 1,500 feet. Among the maintained trails, Garin Regional Park features several fenced off abandoned trails, the park is used by the Hayward Area Athletic League as a high-school cross-country course. It is considered the course of Moreau Catholic High School. Due to the nature of the course race times are generally slower on this course than comparable distances elsewhere. The 2 and 3 mile trails that are used climb the hills at the front of the park, the entire San Francisco Bay can be viewed from the hills. The park contains a small apple orchard with heirloom varieties. The park hosts the Garin Apple Festival in late Summer, with apples available for tasting, Ukraina was the former home, and final resting place of Agapius Honcharenko and his wife, Albina. The site, located within Garin Regional Park and dedicated on May 15,1999, is listed on the California Historical Landmarks list, Honcharenko lived on the property, totaling 40 acres, for 43 years during the 19th and 20th century. In 1902, the property emerged as a commune when a group of Ukrainian Canadians moved to the area, the commune eventually dissolved due to management disagreements. Honcharenko went on to live on, work on, and own the property until his death in 1916, the property was then owned, until 1991, by the Meillke family. In 1991, the East Bay Regional Park District acquired the property and it took approximately 30 years for the property to be dedicated a historical landmark. This was primarily due to disagreements between the Russian American and Ukrainian American communities as to whom Honcharenko belonged to, eventually it was settled in the Ukrainian favor and the place was named Ukraina, by the Ukrainian American Honcharenko Committee. Today, the property consists of the gravesite of the Honcharenkos, the foundation of a coop. The grotto consists of a cave, six feet by three feet, that was cut out of a sandstone cliff. Wall paintings exist in the grotto, Honcharenkos house stood on site until the 1950s, when it was demolished by the Meillke family due to vandalism
