Oscar L. Chapman
Oscar Littleton Chapman was the U. S. Secretary of the Interior, during President Truman's administration, from 1949 to 1953. Chapman was born in Omega, Halifax County, Virginia, to James Jackson Chapman, a Virginia farmer, his wife, Rosa Archer Blunt, he started taking night classes at the University of Denver, spent the 1927–1928 school year at the University of New Mexico, before receiving his LLB from the law school of Westminster University in 1929. During World War I, Chapman served in the United States Navy Medical Corps, from 1918 to 1920. Chapman was manager of Edward P. Costigan's Senate campaign in 1930, the Alva B. Adams Senate campaign in 1932. After Franklin Roosevelt's election in 1932, he was appointed Assistant Secretary of the Department of the Interior. In 1939, Chapman was an early victim of the House Committee on Un-American Activities, as then-chairman Martin Dies, Jr. published a list of the government employees who were members of a Communist-controlled organization. At the 1944 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Chapman was impressed by Truman sticking to his early agreement to support the current Vice-President Henry A. Wallace.
He was promoted to serve as the Under-Secretary by President Harry S. Truman in 1946. Chapman was one of Truman's advisers supporting the decision to recognize the state of Israel in May 1948 over the objections of the State Department. Chapman worked to promote Truman in 1948 election, late in 1949, was promoted to serve as Secretary of the Interior, replacing to Julius A. Krug, who had not supported Truman's campaign. In 1951, Chapman denied a government loan to the aluminum company being run by Lea M. Harvey, because of a scandal that Harvey had sold artillery shells to the Navy during World War II that were dangerously out of specification. After end of his service in the Department of the Interior, he practiced law in the firm of Chapman and Paul. On December 21, 1920, at aged 24, Chapman married his first wife, Olga Pauline Edholm, from the Methodist, his first wife died in 1932. On February 24, 1940, after the death of his first wife, he married his second wife, the former Ann Kendrick.
They had one son of James Raleigh was known as Jimmy. Chapman died in Washington, D. C. at aged 81, was buried in Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia
Fran P. Mainella
Frances P. Mainella was the 16th Director of the National Park Service of the United States and first woman to hold that position, she was appointed by President George W. Bush and confirmed by the U. S. Senate in 2001, she announced her retirement in July 2006 and resigned effective October 15, 2006. Mary A. Bomar, was sworn-in as the 17th Director on October 17, 2006. Mainella was in charge of the NPS when it allowed Redskin's Owner Dan Snyder to illegally remove 130 trees from his property, while the park ranger who blew the whistle on this activity, Ranger Robert M. Danno, was persecuted at length, she subsequently gave contradictory accounts of this to federal investigators. She is a visiting scholar at Clemson University where she is Co-Chair of the US Play Coalition - a partnership to promote the value of play throughout life. Additionally, she serves as Chair of the Public Lands Advisory Council to the National Environmental Education Foundation, a member of Newsweek Magazine’s Environmental Advisory Board, a Fellow of the American Academy for Park and Recreation Administration, a member of the Board of Directors for the Children and Nature Network, a member of the Board of Directors for the National Park Trust, Chair of the National Recreation and Park Foundation, a national speaker on Nature Deficit Disorder and Parks and Recreation.
She was born in Willimantic and received a bachelor's degree from the University of Connecticut and a master's degree from Central Connecticut State College. In 2002 she received an Honorary Doctorate in Public Service from Central Connecticut State University. Prior to her position at the National Park Service, Mainella served twelve years as Director of Florida’s State Parks, which were awarded the Gold Medal Award, recognizing Florida as the best state park system in the country. In 1998 she received the Pugsley Medal "for outstanding leadership in enhancing the Florida State Park system". In addition Clemson University, the Hartzog Fund named an award after her in 2003 in recognition of her service; the Fran P. Mainella Award is subtitled the "Outstanding Woman in Park Resources Award." In 2002, Clemson University presented her with its Walter T. Cox Award, which recognizes leadership in public service, public land administration, natural and cultural resource policy; the American Recreation Coalition presented her with its 2002 Sheldon Coleman Great Outdoors Award.
In 2006, she was awarded the William Penn Mott, Jr. Award for Excellence by the National Society for Park Resources. From 2007 to 2010, the Clemson University Board of Trustees presented her with an award for faculty excellence. Clemson recently named an award in her honor to encourage women to pursue conservation careers. In 2007, Mainella was presented the Pugsley Medal a second time for outstanding national leadership, the highest award given by the American Academy for Park and Recreation Administration. Mainella is one of few that have received this high recognition twice, she has been selected as the Metcalf Lecturer for SUNY- Cortland, the first Ralph Steele Lecturer for East Carolina University, the Calhoun Lecturer for Clemson University. In 2011, Mainella received the outstanding alumni of the year award from the University of Connecticut Neag School of Education. Additionally, she has written many article and book publications including the introduction to National Geographic’s 10 Best of Everything National Parks and an acknowledgement to Richard Louv’s new book: The Nature Principle.
A January 19, 2006, report from the U. S. Department of the Interior's Office of Inspector General entitled "Report of Investigation - Allegations that the National Park Service Improperly Allowed Daniel Snyder to Cut trees on Government Land" reported that Daniel P. Smith, Mainella's Special Assistant at the National Park Service, stated Mainella attended a Washington Redskins vs. New York Giants football game, whereupon she was asked by one of Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder's associates to provide assistance with cutting down trees on the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal, managed by the National Park Service. According to the investigation, Snyder had wanted the trees removed for years because they blocked the view from his multimillion-dollar mansion, but had been unsuccessful in persuading NPS to allow him to clear cut them; the report said Smith told investigators that during the game, Mainella told Snyder's associate to speak with Smith. After the game, Mainella assigned Smith the project of assisting Snyder.
Smith worked through the National Capital Regional Office of the NPS and the park's Acting Superintendent, Kevin Brandt, to pressure and push for the project's completion. The report noted Smith went so far as to meet with Snyder at Snyder's Potomac, MD mansion to hammer out details of the tree cutting; the report stated that when she was asked about her actions regarding Snyder and the trees, Mainella' said she failed to recall these meetings and conversations. However, C&O Canal NPS Acting Superintendent Kevin Brandt stated to investigators that he interacted with Director Mainella on multiple occasions regarding the Snyder deal and that she was the driving force behind the issue from the NPS side; the report concluded that both Smith and Brandt made false statements during the investigation and that Smith and Mainella's contrasting accounts of what happened prolonged the investigation and unnecessarily cost the government additional time and monies. The report further noted that Mainella had falsely claimed during the investigation that the first time she learned of the issue was in an article in the Washington Post, that she failed to recall if or when she'd attended a Washington Redskins football game.
The report c
Humboldt County, California
Humboldt County is a county in the U. S. state of California. As of the 2010 census, the population was 132,646; the county seat is Eureka. Humboldt County comprises CA Micropolitan Statistical Area, it is located on the far North Coast, about 270 miles north of San Francisco. Its primary population centers of Eureka, the site of College of the Redwoods main campus, the smaller college town of Arcata, site of Humboldt State University, are located adjacent to Humboldt Bay, California's second largest natural bay. Area cities and towns are known for hundreds of ornate examples of Victorian architecture. Humboldt County is a densely forested mountainous and rural county with about 110 miles of coastline, situated along the Pacific coast in Northern California's rugged Coast Ranges. With nearly 1,500,000 acres of combined public and private forest in production, Humboldt County alone produces twenty percent of total volume and thirty percent of the total value of all forest products produced in California.
The county contains over forty percent of all remaining old growth Coast Redwood forests, the vast majority of, protected or conserved within dozens of national and local forests and parks, totaling 680,000 acres. The original inhabitants of the area now known as Humboldt County include the Wiyot, Hupa, Chilula and the Eel River Athapaskan peoples, including the Wailaki and Nongatl. Andrés de Urdaneta found the coast near Cape Mendocino followed the coast south to Acapulco in 1565. Spanish traders made unintended visits to California with the Manila Galleons on their return trips from the Philippines beginning in 1565. Humboldt County was formed in 1853 from parts of Trinity County; the first recorded entry by people of European origin was a landing by the Spanish in 1775 in Trinidad. The first recorded entry of Humboldt Bay by non-natives was an 1806 visit from a sea otter hunting party from Sitka employed by the Russian American Company; the hunting party included Captain Jonathan Winship, an American, some Aleut hunters.
The bay was not visited again by people of European origin until 1849 when Josiah Gregg's party visited. In 1850, Douglas Ottinger and Hans Buhne entered the bay, naming it Humboldt in honor of the great naturalist and world explorer, Alexander von Humboldt, the name was applied to the county as a whole; the area around Humboldt Bay was once inhabited by the Wiyot Indian tribe. One of the largest Wiyot villages, was located on Indian Island in Humboldt Bay. Founded around 900 BC, it contains a shell midden 6 acres in size and 14 feet deep, it was the site of the February 26, 1860 massacre of the Wiyot people, recorded by Bret Harte living in Union, now called Arcata. Between 60 and 200 Wiyot men and children were murdered that night. Tolowot is now a National Historic Landmark. State historic landmarks in Humboldt County include Arcata and Mad River Railroad, California's First Drilled Oil Wells in Petrolia, Camp Curtis, Centerville Beach Cross, the City of Eureka, the town of Ferndale, Fort Humboldt, Humboldt Harbor Historical District, the Jacoby Building, The Old Arrow Tree, Old Indian Village of Tsurai, the Town of Trinidad, Trinidad Head.
On February 5 and 6, 1885, Eureka's entire Chinese population of 300 men and 20 women were expelled after a gunfight between rival Chinese gangs resulted in the wounding of a 12-year-old boy and the death of 56-year-old David Kendall, a Eureka City Councilman. After the shooting, an angry mob of 600 Eureka residents met and informed the Chinese that they were no longer wanted in Eureka and would be hanged if they were to stay in town longer than 3 p.m. the next day. They were shipped to San Francisco. No one was killed in the expulsion. Another Chinese expulsion occurred during 1906 in a cannery on the Eel River, in which 23 Chinese cannery workers were expelled after objections to their presence. However, some Chinese remained in the Orleans area, where some white landowners sheltered and purchased food for the Chinese mineworkers until after racial tension passed. Chinese did not return to the coastal cities until the 1950s; the coastal zone of the county experiences wet, cool winters and dry, mild foggy summers.
In the winter, temperatures range from highs of 40–59 °F to lows of 32–49 °F. Coastal summers are cool to mild, with average highs of 60 -- frequent fogs. Coastal summer temperatures range from highs of 64–70 °F to lows of 46–55 °F. In the populated areas and cities near the coast, the highest temperatures tend to occur at locations just a few miles inland from Eureka and Arcata, in towns like Fortuna, Rio Dell, smaller unincorporated communities located somewhat further away from Humboldt Bay. In these locations summer highs are 70–75 °F; the coastal zone experiences a number of frosty nights in winter and early spring, though snowfall and hard freezes are rare. Coastal winters are wet. Winter rainstorms are frequent, with averages from 30 inches to 100 inches a year varying with elevation. Inland areas of the county experience wet, cool winters. Snowfall is common at elevations over 3,000 ft throughout the winter months, is deep enough at higher elevations to have inspired the opening of a small ski lift operation on Horse Mountain, near Willow Creek, for several decades in the late 1900s.
Summer displays the sharpest difference between the inland climates. Inland regions of Humboldt County experience highs of 80–99 °F depending on
Robert Stanton (park director)
Robert G. "Bob" Stanton is a retired career civil service administrator who served for four decades in the United States National Park Service. He was the first African American to be appointed as the Director of the Park Service, serving 1997–2001. Stanton was born in Fort Worth, where he grew up in Mosier Valley, one of the oldest African-American communities in the state, he earned a B. S. in 1963 from Huston–Tillotson University, a black university in Austin, Texas. He did graduate work at George Washington University. Stanton began his Federal career as a seasonal park ranger at Grand Teton National Park, during the summers of 1962 and 1963, when he was completing college, he took a full-time position with the National Park Service in 1966, as a personnel management and public information specialist in the headquarters at Washington, D. C. In 1969, he moved to National Capital Parks-Central, as a management assistant, gaining experience in the regional operations, where many of the properties are ones of historic and cultural significance.
In 1970, he was promoted to superintendent of National Capital Parks-East. In 1971, he was selected as superintendent of Virgin Islands National Park, St. Thomas, gained experience in the Caribbean. In 1974, he was promoted to Deputy Regional Director of the Southeast Region, based in Atlanta, Georgia. In 1976, Stanton returned to Washington, D. C. as Assistant Director, Park Operations. In 1978, he was selected as Deputy Regional Director of the National Capital Region, a position he held for eight years. In 1987, he returned to headquarters as Associate Director for Operations. In 1988, he was selected as the Regional Director of the National Capital Region, where he served until his retirement from career service in 1997. Through this period, he has expanded the NPS development of private-public partnerships to achieve goals of recognizing and protecting cultural properties, as well as expanded recognition of properties and programs recognizing contributions by minority populations; the Park Service's National Capital Region of the Washington, DC metropolitan area includes many significant historic and cultural monuments and parks throughout the area, as well as having wide-ranging responsibilities for large groups of visitors, public events such as presidential inaugurations and demonstrations on the Mall, maintenance of the White House grounds.
Shortly after his retirement, that same year, Stanton was called back from retirement when he was appointed as the 15th National Park Service Director by President Bill Clinton. He served from August 1997 until January 2001. Stanton was the first African American to serve as NPS Director, as well as the first career civil service employee appointed to the position since Russell E. Dickenson's term from 1980 to 1985; as Director, Stanton supported increasing staff diversity, as well as programs to ensure recognition of cultural and historic sites related to contributions of minority peoples in the United States. He worked to improve the agency's public programs to better serve minority populations. Over his long NPS career, Stanton completed numerous programs in conservation and executive leadership. Stanton is an executive professor in the Department of Recreation and Tourism Sciences at Texas A&M University. National Park Service Roger G. Kennedy - 14th Director Fran P. Mainella - 16th Director Robert Stanton Papers at Clemson University Special Collections Library
Avenue of the Giants
The Avenue of the Giants is a scenic highway in Northern California, United States, running through Humboldt Redwoods State Park. It is an former alignment of U. S. Route 101, continues to be maintained by the state as State Route 254; the southern entrance to the Avenue is just north of Garberville, the northern entrance is 15 miles south of Fortuna. The highway is notable for the Coast Redwoods that surround the area, it is from these towering trees. The road winds alongside the scenic Eel River, connects several small towns such as Phillipsville, Myers Flat, Weott, Englewood and Pepperwood; the two-lane road has a number of parking areas, picnic sites, attractions for visitors. The nearby river provides many swimming locations, such as those at the Rockefeller Forest redwood grove; the route contains the site of the annual "Avenue of the Giants Marathon". SR 254 is not part of the National Highway System, a network of highways that are considered essential to the country's economy and mobility by the Federal Highway Administration.
SR 254 is eligible to be included in the State Scenic Highway System, but it is not designated as a scenic highway by the California Department of Transportation. Though not the oldest redwood in the forest, this large tree is over 950 years old, is around 250 ft tall, though it was much taller, it has survived not only the ravages of time but the 1964 flood of the area, a 1908 attempt at logging, a direct lightning strike which removed the top 45 feet of the tree. It is from the perceived hardiness to the fates that the tree derives its name. Markers are visible on the tree, denoting the heights of where the loggers' axes and the floodwaters struck the tree. Situated in the northern half of the Avenue, The Immortal Tree is easy to find, has a large gift shop and parking area in front of it. Near Weott, this grove has an easy 1/2 mile self-guided walk with informational booklets available at the beginning of the trail; this well-travelled trail is a good example of old-growth redwood forest and contains a few big trees, including the Founder's Tree and the Dyerville Giant which fell down in 1991.
Avenue of the Giants features a tree. Shrine Drive-Thru Tree is near the town of Myers Flat; the tree is owned. Not a traditional tree house, this is a house that is, albeit built within a giant redwood. Visible from the road, with tours available, the front of this house is entered through the hollow trunk of a still-living tree; the front door and windows are visible to passers-by, the rest of the house adjoins the rear of the tree in a more traditional style. The Eel River is the third largest river in California, it carves deep canyons down great mountains, through flat valleys, past majestic and ancient redwood forests. The Avenue of the Giants follows the South Fork of the river, but features the branching of the South and Main forks to its north; the Avenue of the Giants was part of U. S. Route 101 until a freeway bypass completed on August 1960, assuming the 101 designation; the Avenue was designated as CA Route 254 by Assembly Concurrent Resolution 10. Except where prefixed with a letter, postmiles were measured on the road as it was in 1964, based on the alignment that existed at the time, do not reflect current mileage.
R reflects a realignment in the route since M indicates a second realignment, L refers an overlap due to a correction or change, T indicates postmiles classified as temporary. Segments that remain unconstructed or have been relinquished to local control may be omitted; the entire route is in Humboldt County. California Roads portal Chandelier Tree California @ AARoads.com - State Route 254 Caltrans: Route 254 highway conditions California Highways: SR 254 The world-famous scenic drive is a 31-mile portion of old Highway 101. Photos of the Avenue
Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park
Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park is a state park, located in Humboldt County, near the town of Orick and 50 miles north of Eureka. The 14,000 acre park is a coastal sanctuary for old-growth Coast Redwood trees; the park is jointly managed by the California Department of Parks and Recreation and the National Park Service as a part of the Redwood National and State Parks. These parks have been collectively designated as a World Heritage Site and form part of the California Coast Ranges International Biosphere Reserve; the meadow along the Newton B. Drury Scenic Parkway, with its population of Roosevelt elk, is considered a centerpiece of the park, located near the information center and campground; these open areas of grassland within the redwood forest are locally known as prairies. Other popular sites in the park are Gold Bluffs Beach; the park is home to the tailed frog and several species of salmon. Some of the first Euro-Americans to visit the vicinity arrived in 1851 with the discovery of gold in the area that would become known as Gold Bluffs.
Gold Bluffs had at one time been a substantial mining camp, although little remains of the camp today. With the end of the Civil War and a fall in the price of gold, operations at the Gold Bluffs were shut down. In 1872 a Captain Taylor of New York visited the Gold Bluffs to obtain the mine and exploit the rich sands deposited offshore. In the spring of 1873, over 100 tons of sand were raised from an area from one-half mile to within 40 feet of the bluffs, in depths of from eight to four fathoms of water. However, by the 1880s activities at the Gold Bluffs again began to slump. One story of the region comes from the area of Gold Bluffs. In a newspaper article from 1984, Thelma Hufford recorded this tale: At Upper Bluffs, imported miners from Cornwall, who were expert tunnel builders and who know how to set up timbers in a tunnel... Arthur Davison said was opened in 1898; the tunnel was through to the coast. It was 600 feet long and six feet square; the tunnel was built to bring water from Prairie Creek to the headwaters of Butler Creek.
A reservoir was built on the west side of the creek. It was used for five years.... The opening, Fay Aldrich said, was on the Prairie Creek side of Joe Stockel's place near the apple tree on Highway 101. By 1920 mining operations at the Gold Bluffs had been closed down; the park was created in 1923 with an initial donation of 160 acres by owner Zipporah Russ to the Save the Redwoods League. By 1931, the League had acquired an additional 5000 acres from the Sage Land and Improvement Company, a large timber concern. During the great depression, a Civilian Conservation Corps camp was stationed in the park, clearing out campsites and creating fences on the borders of the prairie. Notable redwoods include Big Tree, Corkscrew Redwood, the Cathedral Trees. Many redwoods in the park have reached 300 feet tall. Besides Coast redwoods, other tall coniferous tree species in the park's forests include coast Douglas fir, Sitka spruce and western hemlock. Trails in the park include: Miners Ridge and James Irvine - 11.6 miles Brown Creek Loop - 3.5 miles Big Tree Loop - 3.2 miles Ten Taypo Trail - 3.5 miles Rhododendron and Cal Barrel - 5.1 miles West Ridge and Prairie Creek South - 5.8 miles West Ridge and Rhododendron North - 7.7 miles The Friendship Ridge Trail - 8.0 miles The Ah Pah Trail - 0.6-mile The Nature Trail - 1.0-mile Hiker Jim Hamm was attacked by a mountain lion in 2007 while hiking the Brown Creek Loop.
A visitor center is provided with wall maps and bookstore. It is along the same drive as some day-use parking is available. There is parking along parts of the parkway, where elk may be seen. Restrooms are located near the visitor center and nearby at the Big Tree parking lot. California State Parks: official Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park website Images and Information including Prairie Creek's Atlas Grove North Coast Redwood Interpretive Association
Riverside County, California
Riverside County is one of fifty-eight counties in the U. S. state of California. As of the 2010 census, the population was 2,189,641, making it the 4th-most populous county in California and the 11th-most populous in the United States; the name was derived from the city of Riverside, the county seat. Riverside County is included in the Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area known as the Inland Empire; the county is included in the Los Angeles-Long Beach, CA Combined Statistical Area. There is a high concentration of sprawling tract housing communities around Riverside and along the Interstate 10, 15, 215 freeways. Rectangular, Riverside County covers 7,208 square miles in Southern California, spanning from the Greater Los Angeles area to the Arizona border. Geographically, the county is desert in the central and eastern portions, but has a Mediterranean climate in the western portion. Most of Joshua Tree National Park is located in the county; the resort cities of Palm Springs, Palm Desert, Indian Wells, La Quinta, Rancho Mirage, Desert Hot Springs are all located in the Coachella Valley region of central Riverside County.
Large numbers of Los Angeles area workers have moved to the county in recent years to take advantage of affordable housing. Along with neighboring San Bernardino County, it was one of the fastest growing regions in the state prior to the recent changes in the regional economy. In addition, but significant, numbers of people have been moving into Southwest Riverside County from the San Diego-Tijuana metropolitan area; the cities of Temecula and Murrieta accounted for 20% of the increase in population of the county between 2000 and 2007. Riverside County was named for the Santa Ana River in 1870; the indigenous peoples of what is now Riverside County are Cupeño and Cahuilla Indians. The Luiseño lived in the Aguanga and Temecula Basins, Elsinore Trough and eastern Santa Ana Mountains and southward into San Diego County; the Cahuilla lived to the east and north of the Luiseño in the inland valleys, in the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains and the desert of the Salton Sink. The first European settlement in the county was a Mission San Luis Rey de Francia estancia or farm, at the Luiseño village of Temecula.
Grain and grapes were grown here. In 1819, the Mission granted land to Leandro Serrano, mayordomo of San Antonio de Pala Asistencia for the Mission of San Luis Rey for Rancho Temescal. Following Mexican independence and the 1833 confiscation of Mission lands, more ranchos were granted. Rancho Jurupa in 1838, El Rincon in 1839, Rancho San Jacinto Viejo in 1842, Rancho San Jacinto y San Gorgonio in 1843, Ranchos La Laguna, Temecula in 1844, Ranchos Little Temecula, Potreros de San Juan Capistrano in 1845, Ranchos San Jacinto Sobrante, La Sierra, La Sierra, Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Nuevo y Potrero in 1846. New Mexican colonists founded the town of La Placita on the east side of the Santa Ana River at the northern extremity of what is now the city of Riverside in 1843; when the initial 27 California counties were established in 1850, the area today known as Riverside County was divided between Los Angeles County and San Diego County. In 1853, the eastern part of Los Angeles County was used to create San Bernardino County.
Between 1891 and 1893, several proposals and legislative attempts were put forth to form new counties in Southern California. These proposals included one for one for a San Jacinto County. None of the proposals were adopted until a measure to create Riverside County was signed by Governor Henry H. Markham on March 11, 1893; the new county was created from parts of San Diego County. On May 2, 1893, seventy percent of voters approved the formation of Riverside County. Voters chose the city of Riverside as the county seat by a large margin. Riverside County was formed on May 9, 1893, when the Board of Commissioners filed the final canvass of the votes. Riverside County is the birthplace of lane markings, thanks to Dr. June McCarroll in 1915 when she suggested her idea to the state government; the county is the location of the March Air Reserve Base, one of the oldest airfields continuously operated by the United States military. Established as the Alessandro Flying Training Field in February 1918, it was one of thirty-two U.
S. Army Air Service training camps established after the United States entry into World War I in April 1917; the airfield was renamed March Field the following month for 2d Lieutenant Peyton C. March, Jr. the deceased son of the then-Army Chief of Staff, General Peyton C. March, killed in an air crash in Texas just fifteen days after being commissioned. March Field remained an active Army Air Service U. S. Army Air Corps installation throughout the interwar period becoming a major installation of the U. S. Army Air Forces during World War II. Renamed March Air Force Base in 1947 following the establishment of the U. S. Air Force, it was a major Strategic Air Command installation throughout the Cold War. In 1996, it was transferred to the Air Force Reserve Command and gained its current name as a major base for the Air Force Reserve and the California Air National Guard. Riverside county was a major focal point of the Civil Rights Movements in the US the African-American sections of Riverside and Mexican-American communities of the Coachella Valley visited by Cesar Chavez of the farm labor union struggle.
Riverside county has been a focus of modern Native American Gaming enterprises. In the early 1980s, the county government attempted to shut down small bingo halls operated by the Morongo Band of Cahuilla Mission In
