1.
Waterfall
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A waterfall is a place where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of drops in the course of a stream or river. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge of an iceberg or ice shelf. Waterfalls are commonly formed in the course of a river. At these times the channel is narrow and deep. When the river courses over resistant bedrock, erosion happens slowly, as the watercourse increases its velocity at the edge of the waterfall, it plucks material from the riverbed. Whirlpools created in the turbulence as well as sand and stones carried by the increase the erosion capacity. This causes the waterfall to carve deeper into the bed and to recede upstream, often over time, the waterfall will recede back to form a canyon or gorge downstream as it recedes upstream, and it will carve deeper into the ridge above it. The rate of retreat for a waterfall can be as high as one, eventually, the outcropping, more resistant cap rock will collapse under pressure to add blocks of rock to the base of the waterfall. Waterfalls normally form in an area due to erosion. After a long period of being formed, the water falling off the ledge will retreat. Eventually, as the pit grows deeper, the waterfall collapses to be replaced by a steeply sloping stretch of river bed, a river sometimes flows over a large step in the rocks that may have been formed by a fault line. Waterfalls can occur along the edge of a trough, where a stream or river flowing into a glacier continues to flow into a valley after the glacier has receded or melted. The large waterfalls in Yosemite Valley are examples of this phenomenon, another reason hanging valleys may form is where two rivers join and one is flowing faster than the other. Waterfalls can be grouped into ten classes based on the average volume of water present on the fall using a logarithmic scale. Class 10 waterfalls include Niagara Falls, Paulo Afonso Falls and Khone Falls, young Wrote Waterfalls, form and process this work made waterfalls a much more serious topic for research for modern Geoscientists. Ledge waterfall, Water descends vertically over a cliff, maintaining partial contact with the bedrock. Block/Sheet. Classical, Ledge waterfalls where fall height is equal to stream width. Curtain, Ledge waterfalls which descend over a larger than the width of falling water stream
2.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
3.
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
4.
Sonoma County, California
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Sonoma County is a county in the U. S. state of California. As of the 2010 United States Census, its population was 483,878 and its county seat and largest city is Santa Rosa. It is located to the north of Marin County and the south of Mendocino County and it is west of Napa County and Lake County. Sonoma County comprises the Santa Rosa, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area and it is the northwestern county in the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area region. Sonoma is the county and largest producer of California’s Wine Country region, which also includes Napa, Mendocino. It possesses thirteen approved American Viticultural Areas and over 250 wineries, in 2002, Sonoma County ranked as the 32nd county in the United States in agricultural production. More than 7.4 million tourists each year, spending more than $1 billion in 2006. Sonoma County is the home of Sonoma State University and Santa Rosa Junior College, Sonoma County is home to several Native American tribes. By the 1830s, European settlement had set a new direction that would prove to radically alter the course of land use, Sonoma County has rich agricultural land, albeit largely divided between two nearly monocultural uses as of 2007, grapes and pasturage. The voters have twice approved open space initiatives that have provided funding for public acquisition of natural areas, preserving forested areas, coastal habitat, and other open space. The Pomo, Coast Miwok and Wappo peoples were the earliest human settlers of Sonoma County, spaniards, Russians, and other Europeans claimed and settled in the county from the late 16th to mid-19th century, seeking timber, fur, and farmland. The Russians were the first newcomers to establish a permanent foothold in Sonoma County and this settlement and its outlying Russian settlements came to include a population of several hundred Russian and Aleut settlers and a stockaded fort with artillery. However, the Russians abandoned it in 1841 and sold the fort to John Sutter, settler and Mexican land grantee of Sacramento. The Mission San Francisco Solano, founded in 1823 as the last and northernmost of 21 California missions, is in the present City of Sonoma, El Presidio de Sonoma, or Sonoma Barracks, was established in 1836 by Comandante General Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo. The City of Sonoma was the site of the Bear Flag Revolt in 1846, Sonoma was one of the original counties formed when California became a state in 1850, with its county seat originally the town of Sonoma. However, by the early 1850s, the town of Sonoma had declined in importance in terms of commerce and population, its county buildings were crumbling, and it was relatively remote. As a result, elements in the newer, rapidly growing towns of Petaluma, Santa Rosa, the dispute ultimately was between the bigger, richer commercial town of Petaluma and the more centrally located, growing agricultural center of Santa Rosa. Allegedly, several Santa Rosans, not caring to wait, decided to take action and, one night, rode down the Sonoma Valley to Sonoma, took the county seals and records, some of the countys land was annexed from Mendocino County between 1850 and 1860
5.
Napa County, California
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Napa County is a county located north of San Pablo Bay in the northern portion of the U. S. state of California. As of the 2010 census, the population was 136,484, the county seat is the City of Napa. Napa County was one of the counties of California, created in 1850 at the time of statehood. Parts of the territory were given to Lake County in 1861. Napa County comprises the Napa, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is included in the San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland. It is one of four North Bay counties, in prehistoric times, the valley was inhabited by the Patwin Native Americans, with possible habitation by Wappo tribes in the northwestern foothills. Most villages are thought to have been constructed near the floodplains of watercourses that drain the valley and their food consisted of wild roots, acorns, small animals, earthworms, grasshoppers, and bread made from crushed California buckeye kernels. In winter they would construct huts made of tree branches, in summer they camped near rivers and streams. In winter months, they were clad in wild animal skins. The maximum prehistoric population is not to have exceeded 5000 persons. In 1776, a fort was erected by the Spanish Governor, Felipe de Neve a short distance northwest of Napa, francis Castro and Father Jose Altimura were the first Europeans to explore the Napa Valley in 1823. When the first white settlers arrived in the early 1830s, there were six tribes in the valley speaking different dialects, the Mayacomos tribe lived in the area where Calistoga was founded. The Callajomans were in the area near where the town of St. Helena now stands, further south, the Kymus dwelt in the middle part of the valley. The Napa and Ulcus tribes occupied part of the area where the City of Napa now exists while the Soscol tribe occupied the portion that now makes up the end of the valley. Many of the native peoples died during an epidemic in 1838. Settlers also killed several over claims of cattle theft, during the era between 1836 and 1846, when California was a province of independent Mexico, the following 13 ranchos were granted in Napa County, George C. Yount was a settler in Napa County and is believed to be the first Anglo-Saxon resident in the county. In 1836 Yount obtained the Mexican grant Rancho Caymus where he built what is said to be the first log house in California, soon afterward, he built a sawmill and grain mill, and was the first person to plant a vineyard in the county
6.
Sonoma, California
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Sonoma is a city in Sonoma Valley, Sonoma County, California, United States, surrounding its historic town plaza, a remnant of the towns Mexican colonial past. Today, Sonoma is a center of the wine industry for the Sonoma Valley AVA Appellation. Sonomas population was 10,648 as of the 2010 census, the area around what is now the City of Sonoma, California was not empty when the first Europeans arrived. It is near the northeast corner of the territory claimed by the Coast Miwok, with Southern Pomo to the northwest, Wappo to the northeast, Suisunes, Mission San Francisco Solano was the predecessor of the Pueblo of Sonoma. The Mission, established in 1823 by Father José Altimira of the Franciscan Order was the 21st, last and northernmost mission built in Alta California and it was the only mission built in Alta California after Mexico gained independence from the Spanish Empire. In 1833 the Mexican Congress decided to all of the missions in Alta California. The Spanish missionaries were to be replaced by parish priests, the commander of the Company of the National Presidio at San Francisco, Lieutenant Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo was appointed administrator to oversee the closing of Mission San Francisco Solano. Governor José Figueroas naming of Lieutenant Vallejo as the administrator to secularize the Mission was part of a larger plan, an immediate concern was the further eastward movement of the Russian America Company from their settlements at Fort Ross and Bodega Bay on the California coast. The Sonoma Barracks were built to house the soldiers, until the building was habitable, the troops were housed in the buildings of the old Mission. Yount, the first Euro-American permanent settler in the Napa Valley, was employed as a carpenter by General Vallejo, the Governor granted Lieutenant Vallejo the initial lands of Rancho Petaluma immediately west of Sonoma. Vallejo was also named Director or Colonization which meant that he could initiate land grants for other colonists, Vallejo had also been instructed by Governor Figueroa to establish a pueblo at the site of the old Mission. Although Sonoma had been founded as a pueblo in 1835, it remained under military control, in 1843, Lieutenant Colonel Vallejo wrote to the Governor recommending that a civil government be organized for Sonoma. A town council was established in 1844 and Jacob P. Leese was named first alcalde, before dawn on Sunday, June 14,1846, thirty-three Americans, already in rebellion against the Alta California government, arrived in Sonoma. Some of the group had traveled from the camp of U. S. Army Brevet Captain John C, Frémont who had entered California in late 1845 with his exploration and mapping expedition. Others had joined along the way, Mexican officials were concerned about the coming war with the United States coupled with the growing influx of American immigrants into California. The insurgents next determined to seize the weapons and materiel stored in the Sonoma Barracks, meeting no resistance, they approached Comandante Vallejos home and pounded on his door. After a few minutes Vallejo opened the door dressed in his Mexican Army uniform, Vallejo invited the filibusters leaders into his home to negotiate terms. However, when the agreement was presented to those outside they refused to endorse it, rather than releasing the Mexican officers under parole they insisted they be held as hostages
7.
Yulupa Creek
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Yulupa Creek is a 2. 8-mile-long southeast-flowing perennial stream that rises on the southeastern flanks of the northern Sonoma Mountains in Sonoma County, California, United States. This creek, which drains the slopes of Bennett Mountain, is tributary to Sonoma Creek. Yulupa Creek rises in the Sonoma Mountains, on the edge of Annadel State Park near Bennett Ridge Road. It descends initially to the southeast, after about 2 miles it meets Bennett Valley Road, which it follows eastward to Warm Springs Road, where it discharges into Sonoma Creek. NOAA fisheries has designated the Yulupa Creek watershed as Critical Habitat for Oncorhychus mykiss as well as O. tshawytscha as of 2004. Land use in this watershed consists of Annadel State Park usage and very low density rural single family residential development, in addition to known spawning area for O. mykiss, Yulupa Creek has been designated as a high quality riparian zone and an identified habitat of freshwater shrimp. Moreover, the watershed area is a California oak woodland. These forested areas have been characterized as some of the best examples of such woodlands, an unusual characteristic of these forests is the high content of undisturbed prehistoric bunch grass understory, testifying to the absence of historic grazing or other agriculture. Besides the riparian habitat, plant communities include California oak woodland, Douglas fir forest, chaparral, grassland and marsh. The dominant plant community is the oak woodland, which has a canopy of coast live oak, Garry oak, black oak, Pacific madrone, bigleaf maple, occasionally in the vicinity of drainage swales and creeks, canyon live oak is found. In the oak woodlands, the dominant understory plants are native bunch grass, toyon, blackberry, western poison-oak, common animals observed include black-tailed deer, gray squirrel, raccoon, skunk and opossum. Less frequently bobcat and mountain lion are seen, there is abundant birdlife including the scrub jay, Stellers jay, acorn woodpecker, black phoebe and junco. A number of amphibians occur near the creek and its elements, including the rough skinned newt. Ledson Marsh has an outlet to the north fork of Yulupa Creek. Elevations within the basin of Yulupa Creek range from about 430 to 1800 feet above sea level. Sandstone is the dominant rock type, as a remnant of the ancient sea floor, slopes within the headwaters area commonly range from 15 to 30 percent, and lower reaches have gradients of two to five percent. Typical soil depths in the area range from 14 to 20 inches. Much of the type in the Yulupa Creek riparian zone consists of Laniger loam, with rhyolite outcrops
8.
Stream
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A stream is a body of water with a current, confined within a bed and banks. Streams are important as conduits in the cycle, instruments in groundwater recharge. The biological habitat in the vicinity of a stream is called a riparian zone. Given the status of the ongoing Holocene extinction, streams play an important corridor role in connecting fragmented habitats, the study of streams and waterways in general is known as surface hydrology and is a core element of environmental geography. Brook A stream smaller than a creek, especially one that is fed by a spring or seep and it is usually small and easily forded. A brook is characterised by its shallowness and its bed being composed primarily of rocks, creek In North America, Australia and New Zealand, a small to medium-sized natural stream. Sometimes navigable by motor craft and may be intermittent, in parts of Maryland, New England, the UK and India, a tidal inlet, typically in a salt marsh or mangrove swamp, or between enclosed and drained former salt marshes or swamps. In these cases, the stream is the stream, the course of the seawater through the creek channel at low. River A large natural stream, which may be a waterway, runnel the linear channel between the parallel ridges or bars on a shoreline beach or river floodplain, or between a bar and the shore. Tributary A contributory stream, or a stream which does not reach the sea, sometimes also called a branch or fork. There are a number of names for a stream. Allt is used in Highland Scotland, beck is used in Yorkshire, Lancashire, Dumfriesshire, Cumbria, Norfolk, and Lincolnshire. Bourne or winterbourne is used in the chalk downland of southern England, brook is used in the Midlands, Lancashire and Cheshire. Burn is used in Scotland and North East England, gill or ghyll is seen in the north of England and other areas influenced by Old Norse. Rivulet is an term encountered in Victorian era publications, stream is used in Southern England. Syke is used in lowland Scotland and Cumbria for a seasonal stream, branch is used to name streams in Maryland and Virginia. Falls is also used to name streams in Maryland, for streams/rivers which have waterfalls on them, little Gunpowder Falls and The Jones Falls are actually rivers named in this manner, unique to Maryland. Kill in New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and New Jersey comes from a Dutch language word meaning riverbed or water channel, run in Ohio, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, or West Virginia can be the name of a stream
9.
Northern California
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Northern California, often abbreviated NorCal, is the northern portion of the U. S. state of California. The 48-county definition is not used for the Northern California Megaregion, the megaregions area is instead defined from Metropolitan Fresno north to Greater Sacramento, and from the Bay Area east across Nevada state line to encompass the entire Lake Tahoe-Reno area. The arrival of European explorers from the early 16th to the mid-18th centuries, in 1770, the Spanish mission at Monterey was the first European settlement in the area, followed by other missions along the coast—eventually extending as far north as Sonoma County. Northern California is not a geographic designation. Californias north-south midway division is around 37° latitude, near the level of San Francisco, popularly, though, Northern California usually refers to the states northernmost 48 counties. This definition coincides with the county lines at 35° 47′ 28″ north latitude, the term is also applied to the area north of Point Conception and the Tehachapi Mountains. Because of Californias large size and diverse geography, the state can be subdivided in other ways as well, the state is often considered as having an additional division north of the urban areas of the San Francisco Bay Area and Sacramento metropolitan areas. The coastal area north of the Bay Area is referred to as the North Coast while the region north of Sacramento is referred by locals as the Northstate. Since the events of the California Gold Rush, Northern California has been a leader on the economic, scientific. In science, advances range from being the first to isolate and name fourteen transuranic chemical elements, other examples of innovation across diverse fields range from Genentech to CrossFit as a pioneer in extreme human fitness and training. It is also Home to one of the largest Air Force Bases on the West Coast, Northern Californias largest metropolitan area is the San Francisco Bay Area which includes the cities of San Francisco, San Jose, Oakland, and their many suburbs. In recent years the Bay Area has drawn more commuters from as far as Central Valley cities such as Sacramento, Stockton, Fresno, Turlock and Modesto. The 2010 U. S. Census showed that the Bay Area grew at a faster rate than the Greater Los Angeles Area while Greater Sacramento had the largest growth rate of any area in California. The states larger cities are considered part of Northern California in cases when the state is divided into two parts. The first European to explore the coast was Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, sailing for the Spanish Crown, in 1542, beginning in 1565, the Spanish Manila galleons crossed the Pacific Ocean from Mexico to the Spanish Philippines, with silver and gemstones from Mexico. The Manila galleons returned across the northern Pacific, and reached North America usually off the coast of northern California, in 1579, northern California was visited by the English explorer Sir Francis Drake who landed north of todays San Francisco and claimed the area for England. In 1602, the Spaniard Sebastián Vizcaíno explored Californias coast as far north as Monterey Bay, other Spanish explorers sailed along the coast of northern California for the next 150 years, but no settlements were established. The first European inhabitants were Spanish missionaries, who built missions along the California coast, the mission at Monterey was first established in 1770, and at San Francisco in 1776
10.
San Francisco Bay
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San Francisco Bay is a shallow estuary in the U. S. state of California. It is surrounded by a region known as the San Francisco Bay Area, dominated by the large cities San Francisco, Oakland. San Francisco Bay drains water from approximately 40 percent of California and it then connects to the Pacific Ocean via the Golden Gate strait. However, this group of interconnected bays is often called the San Francisco Bay. The bay was designated a Ramsar Wetland of International Importance on February 2,2013, the bay covers somewhere between 400 and 1,600 square miles, depending on which sub-bays, estuaries, wetlands, and so on are included in the measurement. The main part of the bay measures 3 to 12 miles wide east-to-west and it is the largest Pacific estuary in the Americas. Later, wetlands and inlets were filled in, reducing the Bays size since the mid-19th century by as much as one third. Recently, large areas of wetlands have been restored, further confusing the issue of the Bays size, despite its value as a waterway and harbor, many thousands of acres of marshy wetlands at the edges of the bay were, for many years, considered wasted space. As a result, soil excavated for building projects or dredged from channels was often dumped onto the wetlands, from the mid-19th century through the late 20th century, more than a third of the original bay was filled and often built on. The idea was, and remains, controversial, there are five large islands in San Francisco Bay. Alameda, the largest island, was created when a shipping lane was cut in 1901 and it is now predominantly a bedroom community. Angel Island was known as Ellis Island West because it served as the point for immigrants from East Asia. It is now a park accessible by ferry. Mountainous Yerba Buena Island is pierced by a tunnel linking the east and west spans of the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge, attached to the north is the artificial and flat Treasure Island, site of the 1939 Golden Gate International Exposition. From the Second World War until the 1990s, both served as military bases and are now being redeveloped. Isolated in the center of the Bay is Alcatraz, the site of the federal penitentiary. The federal prison on Alcatraz Island no longer functions, but the complex is a popular tourist site, despite its name, Mare Island in the northern part of the bay is a peninsula rather than an island. During the last ice age, the now filled by the bay was a large linear valley with small hills
11.
Wine Country (California)
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The Wine Country is an area of Northern California in the United States known worldwide as a premium wine-growing region. Viticulture and wine-making have been practiced in the region since the mid-19th century, Wine grapes are also grown at higher elevations, such as Atlas Peak and Mount Veeder AVAs. The region is defined not only by its viticulture, but also its ecology, geology, architecture, cuisine, the majority of the grape harvest, by both area and value, derives from Sonoma County. Helena and Calistoga in Napa County, and Hopland and Ukiah in Mendocino County, Wine Country is generally regarded as the combined counties of Napa, Sonoma, Mendocino, and Lake. In Lake County, Clear Lake, Guenoc Valley, High Valley, the six-county North Coast AVA overlaps with the Wine Country as defined here. In addition, the names of the counties themselves are legal for use as appellation names, the earliest prehistory of the Wine Country involves habitation by several Native American tribes from approximately 8000 BC. During the Mexican Colonial period and after, European settlers brought in more intensive agriculture to the Wine Country, including growing grapes, some of the historical events that led to the establishment of California as a state transpired in the Wine Country. In particular, the town of Sonoma, is known as the birthplace of American California, agoston Haraszthy is credited with being one of the forefathers of the California wine industry in Sonoma by his planting of grapes in the lower Arroyo Seco Creek watershed of Sonoma County. A diversity of aquatic and terrestrial organisms populate the Wine Country, winter-run Chinook salmon, Delta smelt and steelhead are the most prominent fishes. A variety of salamanders, snakes and frogs are present in the Wine Country. The federally listed as threatened California red-legged frog is present in the northern reach draining the slopes of Annadel State Park. Several endangered species present include Ridgways rail, California black rail, California brown pelican, California freshwater shrimp, salt marsh harvest mouse, Suisun shrew, the above are endangered species with the exception of the splittail, steelhead and black rail, which are federally designated as threatened. Upland ecosystems drained include mixed California oak woodland, chaparral and savannah woodland, in these upland reaches one finds plentiful black-tailed deer, coyote, skunk, raccoon, opossum, wild turkey, turkey vulture, red-tailed hawk and occasionally bobcat and mountain lion. Prominent higher elevation trees include, Coast live oak, Garry oak, Pacific madrone, California buckeye, Douglas fir, the Wine Country has undergone a boom in tourism. In 1975 there were only 25 Napa Valley wineries, today there are well over 400 wineries in Napa and Sonoma Counties. Tourists come to the not only for wine tasting, but also for hiking, bicycling, hot air ballooning. Numerous notable chefs and restaurateurs are present in the Wine Country, including Thomas Keller, John Ash, the Napa Valley is also experiencing pressures for increased urbanization and roadway upgrading. Central Coast AVA Lake County wine Mendocino County wine Napa County wine Sonoma County wine Wine Country at DMOZ
12.
Napa River
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The Napa River, approximately 55 miles long, is a river in the U. S. state of California. It drains a famous wine-growing region, called the Napa Valley, milliken Creek and Mt. Veeder watersheds are a few of its many tributaries. The mouth is at Vallejo where the inter-tidal zone of fresh, the Napa River rises in northwestern Napa County just south of the summit of Mt. St. Helena in the Mayacamas Mountains of the California Coast Ranges. The source begins as seasonal Kimball Canyon Creek in Robert Louis Stevenson State Park at an elevation of 3,745 feet which descends the slope of Mt. St. Helena to Kimball Canyon Dam. It flows south for 4 miles, entering the head of the slender Napa Valley north of Calistoga, in the valley, it flows southeast past Calistoga, St Helena, Rutherford, Oakville and through Napa, its head of navigation. Downstream from Napa, it forms an estuary, entering Mare Island Strait. It discharges into San Pablo Bay through the Napa Sonoma Marsh, the Napa River watershed encompasses approximately 426 square miles. Larger tributaries, such as Dry, Conn, and Soda creeks, several large dams were built between 1924 and 1959 on major eastside tributaries and the northern headwaters of the Napa River. In addition, many smaller dams can be throughout the watershed. These numerous dams are barriers to salmon and steelhead seeking their historic spawning grounds. The river also supports a diversity of fishes and recovering salmonid populations, especially chinook salmon. In 2003 the Napa County Resource Conservation District began an ongoing monitoring program. The Chinook run begins in late October through January, the Napa River basin is estimated to have historically supported a spawning run of 6, 000–8,000 steelhead, and as many as 2, 000–4,000 coho salmon. By the late 1960s, coho salmon were extirpated from the watershed, flow reductions in key rearing streams have reduced food availability for juvenile steelhead, causing reduced growth and survival. Recently, a salmon was caught in the river. In addition, a fourth species, sockeye salmon, was also identified in the Napa River. Because of this diversity the Napa River has been prioritized for special protection, white sturgeon and many other native and non-native fishes currently utilize the Napa River watershed. The California golden beaver was historically extant, recently beaver have recolonized the Napa River and have been documented in Napa as well as near Rutherford and Oak Knoll
