Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve is a state-protected reserve of

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, United States, harboring the most consistent blooms of

California poppies California Poppies were a British speedway team based at Longmoor Speedway California in England, California Country Park, Nr Wokingham, Berkshire. History The California Poppies raced in the California Country Park in an area known as Califor ...

, the state flower. The reserve is located in the rural west side of

Antelope Valley The Antelope Valley is located in northern Los Angeles County, California, and the southeast portion of Kern County, California, and constitutes the western tip of the Mojave Desert. It is situated between the Tehachapi, Sierra Pelona, and t ...

in northern

Los Angeles County Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles, and sometimes abbreviated as L.A. County, is the most populous county in the United States and in the U.S. state of California, with 9,861,224 residents estimated as of 2022. It is the ...

, west of Lancaster. To the north is

Kern County Kern County is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 909,235. Its county seat is Bakersfield. Kern County comprises the Bakersfield, California, Metropolitan statistical area. The county sp ...

. The reserve is at an elevation ranging from above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardised g ...

, in the

Mojave Desert The Mojave Desert ( ; mov, Hayikwiir Mat'aar; es, Desierto de Mojave) is a desert in the rain shadow of the Sierra Nevada mountains in the Southwestern United States. It is named for the indigenous Mojave people. It is located primarily in ...

climate zone. The reserve is administered by the California Department of Parks and Recreation. Other

wildflower A wildflower (or wild flower) is a flower that grows in the wild, meaning it was not intentionally seeded or planted. The term implies that the plant probably is neither a hybrid nor a selected cultivar that is in any way different from the ...

s within the reserve include the owl's clover,

lupin ''Lupinus'', commonly known as lupin, lupine, or regionally bluebonnet etc., is a genus of plants in the legume family Fabaceae. The genus includes over 199 species, with centers of diversity in North and South America. Smaller centers occur ...

goldfields Goldfield or Goldfields may refer to: Places * Goldfield, Arizona, the former name of Youngberg, Arizona, a populated place in the United States * Goldfield, Colorado, a community in the United States * Goldfield, Iowa, a city in the United State ...

, cream cups and

coreopsis ''Coreopsis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae. Common names include calliopsis and tickseed, a name shared with various other plants. Description These plants range from in height. The flowers are usually yellow wi ...

The reserve

The intense blooming season for the California poppy falls usually within late winter to early spring, during the months of mid-February through mid-May. Blooming seasons are dependent on the amount of rainfall during the winter to early spring seasons. Within the reserve, there are of trails, including a paved section for

wheelchair A wheelchair is a chair with wheels, used when walking is difficult or impossible due to illness, injury, problems related to old age, or disability. These can include spinal cord injuries ( paraplegia, hemiplegia, and quadriplegia), cerebr ...

access, which traverse the poppy fields. In order to keep the fields in a strictly natural state, California State Parks does not water or stimulate the flowers. The park service also excludes

sheep Sheep or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are domesticated, ruminant mammals typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus ''Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to domesticated s ...

and

cattle Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus ''Bos''. Adult females are referred to as cows and adult mal ...

from grazing the hillsides. Until the early 1970s sheep once grazed the buttes in the western Antelope Valley.

Pronghorn The pronghorn (, ) (''Antilocapra americana'') is a species of artiodactyl (even-toed, hoofed) mammal indigenous to interior western and central North America. Though not an antelope, it is known colloquially in North America as the American a ...

grazed long before then, until the railroad arrived in 1876. With the exception of

service dogs In general, an assistance dog, known as a service dog in the United States, is a dog trained to aid or assist an individual with a disability. Many are trained by an assistance dog organization, or by their handler, often with the help of a profe ...

, pets are prohibited from the reserve. Under California state law, visitors are also prohibited from taking flowers from the reserve. Since 1994, controlled fires have been used to regulate dead brush, exotic species and litter within the reserve. The reserve is located east of

Arthur B. Ripley Desert Woodland State Park Arthur B. Ripley Desert Woodland State Park is a state park in the western Antelope Valley in Southern California. The park protects mature stands of Yucca brevifolia, Joshua trees (''Yucca brevifolia'') and Juniperus californica, California juni ...

. Image:Antelope poppy reserve.jpg, Entrance to the Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve Image:Wildflowers at California Poppy Reserve.jpg File:Californian Golden Poppy Flower.jpg,

References

External links

California State Parks: official Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve website
{{California-protected-area-stub California State Reserves Antelope Valley Protected areas of the Mojave Desert Protected areas of Los Angeles County, California IUCN protected area omissions Protected areas established in 1976 1976 establishments in California

The reserve

See also

References

External links