1.
Constructed wetland
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A constructed wetland is an artificial wetland created for the purpose of treating anthropogenic discharge such as municipal or industrial wastewater, or stormwater runoff. It may also be created for land reclamation after mining, refineries, constructed wetlands are engineered systems that use natural functions of vegetation, soil, and organisms to treat different water streams. Depending on the type of wastewater that has to be treated the system has to be adjusted accordingly which means that pre- or post-treatments might be necessary. Constructed wetlands can be designed to emulate the features of natural wetlands, some constructed wetlands may also serve as a habitat for native and migratory wildlife, although that is usually not their main purpose. The two main types of constructed wetlands are subsurface flow and surface flow wetlands, the planted vegetation plays a role in contaminant removal but the filter bed, consisting usually of a combination of sand and gravel, has an equally important role to play. Many terms are used to denote constructed wetlands, such as reed beds, soil infiltration beds, constructed treatment wetlands, treatment wetlands, beside engineered wetlands, the terms of man-made or artificial wetlands are often found as well. A biofilter has some similarities with a wetland, but is usually without plants. However, the term of constructed wetlands can also be used to describe restored and recultivated land that was destroyed in the past through draining and converting into farmland, ponds for wastewater treatment or water purification are not considered as constructed wetlands. They are referred to as ponds or treatment ponds, respectively. A constructed wetland is a sequence of water bodies designed to filter and treat waterborne pollutants found in sewage. Constructed wetlands are used for treatment or for greywater treatment. They can be used after a tank for primary treatment. Some CW designs however do not use upfront primary treatment, vegetation in a wetland provides a substrate upon which microorganisms can grow as they break down organic materials. This community of microorganisms is known as the periphyton, the periphyton and natural chemical processes are responsible for approximately 90 percent of pollutant removal and waste breakdown. The plants remove about seven to ten percent of pollutants, different species of aquatic plants have different rates of heavy metal uptake, a consideration for plant selection in a constructed wetland used for water treatment. Constructed wetlands are of two types, subsurface flow and surface flow wetlands. Many regulatory agencies list treatment wetlands as one of their recommended best management practices for controlling urban runoff, in most cases, the bottom is lined with either a polymer geomembrane, concrete or clay in order to protect the water table and surrounding grounds. The substrate can be either gravel—generally limestone or pumice/volcanic rock, depending on local availability, subsurface flow wetlands can be further classified as horizontal flow and vertical flow constructed wetlands
2.
Canyon
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A canyon or gorge is a deep cleft between escarpments or cliffs resulting from the erosive activity of a river over geologic timescales. A canyon may also refer to a rift between two peaks, such as those in ranges including the Rocky Mountains, the Alps. Usually a river or stream and erosion carve out such splits between mountains, examples of mountain-type canyons are Provo Canyon in Utah or Yosemite National Park in Californias Sierra Nevada. Canyons within mountains, or gorges that have an opening on one side are called box canyons. Slot canyons are very narrow canyons, often with smooth walls, steep-sided valleys in the seabed of the continental slope underwater are referred to as submarine canyons. Unlike canyons on land, submarine canyons are thought to be formed by turbidity currents, the word canyon is Spanish in origin, with the same meaning. The word canyon is used in North America while the words gorge and ravine are used in Europe and Oceania, though gorge. In the United States, place names generally use canyon in the southwest and gorge in the northeast, in Canada, a gorge is usually narrow while a ravine is more open and often wooded. The military-derived word defile is occasionally used in the United Kingdom, most canyons were formed by a process of long-time erosion from a plateau or table-land level. The cliffs form because harder rock strata that are resistant to erosion, Canyons are much more common in arid than in wet areas because physical weathering has a more localized effect in arid zones. The wind and water from the combine to erode and cut away less resistant materials such as shales. The freezing and expansion of water also serves to help form canyons, water seeps into cracks between the rocks and freezes, pushing the rocks apart and eventually causing large chunks to break off the canyon walls, in a process known as frost wedging. Canyon walls are formed of resistant sandstones or granite. Sometimes large rivers run through canyons as the result of geological uplift. These are called entrenched rivers, because they are unable to alter their course. In the United States, the Colorado River in the Southwest, Canyons often form in areas of limestone rock. As limestone is soluble to an extent, cave systems form in the rock. When these collapse, a canyon is left, as in the Mendip Hills in Somerset and Yorkshire Dales in Yorkshire, England
3.
Simi Hills
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The Simi Hills are a low rocky mountain range of the Transverse Ranges in eastern Ventura County and western Los Angeles County, of southern California, United States. The Simi Hills are aligned east-west and run for 26 miles, the Simi Hills are part of the central Transverse Ranges System. They lie almost entirely within southeastern Ventura County, with southern and eastern foothills within western Los Angeles County. The Simi Hills are on the edge of the San Fernando Valley. The Simi Valley lies to the north, and the Conejo Valley lies to the southwest, the San Fernando Valley communities of Chatsworth, West Hills, and Woodland Hills are in the eastern hills and adjacent valley floor in Los Angeles city and county. The cities of Thousand Oaks, Agoura Hills, and Simi Valley city are in the hills, the two nearby mountain ranges are, the higher Santa Susana Mountains adjacent on the northeast across Santa Susana Pass, and the Santa Monica Mountains running nearby along the south. The Simis undeveloped native habitat provides routes that protect larger land wildlife of the Santa Monicas from genetic isolation, large sections of the Simi Hills are protected by parks and open space preserves. The Santa Susana Field Laboratory property, a wildlife corridor to the Santa Susanas, has been proposed for public open space parkland after the closed sites cleanup completion. The hills provide the complete or partial watersheds for several year-round creeks, Bell Creek and Arroyo Calabasas are the headwaters of the Los Angeles River, by name its beginning with their confluence in nearby Canoga Park. 90% of the Santa Susana Field Lab property drains into the Los Angeles River via tributaries, because of its low elevation, the Simi Hills typically experience rainy, mild winters. Snow is rare in the Simi Hills, even in the highest areas, summers are warm and dry and wildfires do occur here. The Simi Hills further block these winds, which bring cool weather in summer and winter from the San Fernando Valley. Peaks in this region include Simi Peak,2,403 ft, Chatsworth Peak,2,314 ft, the southern lower hills are mostly covered in grasslands and oak savanna. The northern rocky hills area is primarily chaparral shrubland and oak woodlands, the Simi Hills are part of the California chaparral and woodlands ecoregion. The oaks include, the evergreen live oak, the deciduous valley oak. Riparian zone plants include California sycamores and arroyo willows, spring wildflowers include the redbush monkey flower, Plummers mariposa lily, and canyon sunflower. Poison oak is also an important member of the plant habitat community here. The Simi Hills were inhabited for over 8,000 years by Paleo-indians and Chumash-Venturaño Native Americans for settlements, the Chumash had the established village of Huwam in Cañon del Escorpión
4.
Newbury Park, California
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Newbury Park is a town located mostly within the western Thousand Oaks city limits in Ventura County, California, United States. The unincorporated county island of Casa Conejo is part of Newbury Park, lying within the Conejo Valley in the northwestern part of the Greater Los Angeles Area, Newbury Park abuts the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. The community is located approximately 35 miles from Downtown Los Angeles and is less than 7 mi from the Los Angeles County border in Westlake Village. The closest coastal city is Malibu,22 mi from Newbury Park, the ZIP code is 91320, and the community is inside area code 805. About 28,000 of Thousand Oaks 110,000 residents reside in Newbury Park, Newbury Park, along with Thousand Oaks proper, have numerous times ranked among the safest and also wealthiest communities in the United States. Money Magazine has ranked Newbury Park as one of the most affluent cities in the United States and it has the 11th highest per-capita income and the fourth-highest median household income in the country. As of 2013, the household income in Newbury Park is $107,302, compared to $60,190 for California as a whole. Newbury Park is named after Egbert Starr Newbury, who was the founder of Newbury Park, Egbert Starr Newbury called his ranch here for “Newbury Park”, which ultimately became the name for the entire town. Egbert Starr Newbury and his family owned thousands of acres in the Conejo Valley and he moved from Michigan to Southern California of health reasons in 1871, opened Conejo Valley’s first post office in 1875, but left California only two years later. The first written material on the Conejo Valley comes from a Chumash folklore told to anthropologist John P. Harrington around 1900 from local Chumash Indians, mammoth fossils have been unearthed in Newbury Park in 1961 and later in 1971, which is at display at the Stagecoach Inn Museum. Newbury Park is believed to first be inhabited by Chumash beginning 6,000,7,000, Newbury Park was home to three Chumash villages, Satwiwa by the southern edge of town, as well as two villages that were located by todays Ventu Park Road. These villages were settled 2,000 years ago, and had a population of 100–200 inhabitants in each village, in addition to those three, a large Chumash village was located just north of Arroyo Conejo Open Space by Wildwood Regional Park. Other nearby villages include Lalimanux at the base of the Conejo Grade by westernmost Newbury Park, Newbury Park also contains many ancient burial sites, most near the Santa Monica Mountains in the southern portion of the community. Many artifacts have been discovered in the area, most notably by Rancho Sierra Vista in southern Newbury Park, Satwiwa, which is Chumash for the bluffs, was the name of a nearby village by the Big Sycamore Canyon. The canyon was a trading route for the Chumash- and Tongva people. These are known as CA-Ven-65, CA-Ven-261, and CA-Ven-260 near the Fieldhouse in Newbury Park, at CA-Ven-261 is an ancient Chumash burial site as suggested by a village of long duration. The Ventureño Chumash first settled in the west end of the Santa Monica Mountains because of its abundant food supply. They had plentiful of roots, berries, seeds, bulbs, acorns, walnuts, shellfish and fish were transported from the nearby Mugu Lagoon across the Santa Monicas
5.
Thousand Oaks, California
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Thousand Oaks is a city in southeastern Ventura County, California, United States. It is in the part of the Greater Los Angeles Area. It was named after the oak trees that grow in the area. The city forms the core of the Conejo Valley, which includes Thousand Oaks proper, Newbury Park, Westlake Village, Agoura Hills. The Los Angeles County–Ventura County line crosses at the eastern border with Westlake Village. The population was estimated to be 129,339 in 2015, Thousand Oaks and Newbury Park were part of a master-planned city, created by the Janss Investment Company in the mid-1950s. It included about 1,000 custom home lots,2,000 single-family residences, a shopping center. The median home price is around $669,500, Thousand Oaks was ranked the fourth-safest among cities with a population greater than 100,000 in the United States by the FBIs 2013 Uniform Crime Reports. The area was occupied by the Chumash people, and 2000-year-old cave drawings may still be seen at the Chumash Indian Museum,3290 Lang Ranch Parkway. The Chumash village was known as Sapwi, which means House of the Deer, the areas recorded history dates to 1542 when Spanish explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo landed at Point Mugu and claimed the land for Spain. It eventually became part of the 48,671 acres Rancho El Conejo land grant by the Spanish government and it served as grazing land for vaqueros for the next fifty years. In the late 19th century it was on the route between Los Angeles and Santa Barbara. The Stagecoach Inn was built in 1876, and is now a California Historical Landmark, the Janss family, developers of Southern California subdivisions, purchased 10,000 acres in the early 20th century. They eventually created plans for a community and the name remains prominently featured in the city. Jungleland USA was one of Southern Californias first theme parks, wild animal shows entertained thousands in the 1940s and 1950s. Many television and movie productions used the parks trained animals and were filmed there, including Birth of a Nation, Tarzan, jungleland closed in May 1968, in part due to competition from other amusement parks such as Knotts Berry Farm and Disneyland. The Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Center today stands on the site of the park, the City of Thousand Oaks was incorporated on October 7,1964, the first incorporated city in the Conejo Valley. Some sources mistakenly state that Thousand Oaks was incorporated on September 29,1964 and it is known for being a planned community, as the city is one of few that have actually stayed with the master plan
6.
Ventura County, California
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Ventura County is a county in the southern part of the U. S. state of California. As of the 2010 census, the population was 823,318, Ventura County comprises the Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is also included in the Los Angeles-Long Beach, CA Combined Statistical Area. It is also considered the southernmost county along the California Central Coast, Ventura County was historically inhabited by the Chumash people, who also settled much of Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo Counties, with their presence dating back 10, 000-12,000 years. The Chumash were hunter-gatherers, fishermen, and also traders with the Mojave, Yokuts, the Chumash are also known for their rock paintings and for their great basketry. Chumash Indian Museum in Thousand Oaks has several reconstructed Chumash houses and there are several Chumash pictographs in the county, the plank canoe, called a tomol in Chumash, was important to their way of life. Canoe launching points on the mainland for trade with the Chumash of the Channel Islands were located at the mouth of the Ventura River, Mugu Lagoon and this has led to speculations among archeologists of whether the Chumash could have had a pre-historic contact with Polynesians. According to diachronic linguistics, certain words such as tomolo’o could be related to Polynesian languages, the dialect of the Chumash language that was spoken in Ventura County was Ventureño. Others include Point Mugu from the word Muwu, Saticoy from the word Sa’aqtiko’y, in October 1542, the expedition led by Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo anchored in an inlet near Point Mugu, its members were the first Europeans to arrive in the area that would become Ventura County. Active occupation of California by Spain began in 1769, gaspar de Portolà led a military expedition by land from San Diego to Monterey, passing through Ventura County in August of that year. A priest with the expedition, Father Juan Crespí, kept a journal of the trip and noted that the area was ideal for a mission to be established, also on this expedition was Father Junípero Serra, who later founded a mission on this site. On March 31,1782, the Mission San Buenaventura was founded by Father Serra and it is named after Saint Bonaventure, one of the early intellectual founders of the Franciscan Order. The town that grew up around the mission, was originally and remains named San Buenaventura, in the 1790s, the Spanish Governor of California began granting land concessions to Spanish Californians who were often retiring soldiers. These concessions were known as ranchos and consisted of thousands of acres of land that were used primarily as ranch land for livestock, in Ventura County, Rancho Simi was granted in 1795 and Rancho El Conejo in 1802. Fernando Tico was granted Ojai and part of Ventura by Gov. Alvarado, California land that had been vested in the King of Spain was now owned by the nation of Mexico. By the 1830s, Mission San Buenaventura was in a decline with fewer neophytes joining the mission, the number of cattle owned by the mission dropped from first to fifteenth ranking in the California Missions. The missions were secularized by the Mexican government in 1834, the Mexican governors began granting land rights to Mexican Californians, often retiring soldiers. By 1846, there were 19 rancho grants in Ventura County, in 1836, Mission San Buenaventura was transferred from the Church to a secular administrator. The natives who had been working at the mission left to work on the ranchos
7.
Southern California
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Southern California, often abbreviated as SoCal, is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises Californias 10 southernmost counties. The region is described as eight counties, based on demographics and economic ties, Imperial, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, Santa Barbara. The more extensive 10-county definition, which includes Kern and San Luis Obispo counties, is used and is based on historical political divisions. Southern California is an economic center for the state of California. The 8-county and 10-county definitions are not used for the greater Southern California Megaregion, the megaregions area is more expansive, extending east into Las Vegas, Nevada and south across the Mexican border into Tijuana.5 million people. With over 22 million people, Southern California contains roughly 60 percent of Californias population, located east of Southern California is the Colorado Desert and the Colorado River at the border with Arizona. The Mojave Desert is located at the border with the state of Nevada while towards the south is the Mexico–United States border, within Southern California are two major cities, Los Angeles and San Diego, as well as three of the countrys largest metropolitan areas. With a population of 3,792,621, Los Angeles is the most populous city in California and the second most populous in the United States. South of Los Angeles and with a population of 1,307,402 is San Diego, the second most populous city in the state and the eighth most populous in the nation. The counties of Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego, San Bernardino, and Riverside are the five most populous in the state, the motion picture, television, and music industry are centered in the Los Angeles area in Southern California. Hollywood, a district within Los Angeles, gives its name to the American motion picture industry, headquartered in Southern California are The Walt Disney Company, Sony Pictures, Universal, MGM, Paramount Pictures, 20th Century Fox, and Warner Brothers. Universal, Warner Brothers, and Sony also run major record companies, Southern California is also home to a large homegrown surf and skateboard culture. Companies such as Vans, Volcom, Quiksilver, No Fear, RVCA, some of the worlds biggest action sports events, including the X Games, Boost Mobile Pro, and the U. S. Open of Surfing, are all held in Southern California. Southern California is also important to the world of yachting, the annual Transpacific Yacht Race, or Transpac, from Los Angeles to Hawaii, is one of yachtings premier events. The San Diego Yacht Club held the Americas Cup, the most prestigious prize in yachting, from 1988 to 1995, Southern California is home to many sports franchises and sports networks such as Fox Sports Net. Many locals and tourists frequent the Southern California coast for its popular beaches, the desert city of Palm Springs is popular for its resort feel and nearby open spaces. Southern California is not a geographic designation and definitions of what constitutes Southern California vary. Geographically, Californias North-South midway point lies at exactly 37°958.23 latitude, around 11 miles south of San Jose, however, when the state is divided into two areas, the term Southern California usually refers to the 10 southernmost counties of the state
