California Valley (

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

: ''Valle de California'') is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

located in the eastern part of

San Luis Obispo County San Luis Obispo County (), officially the County of San Luis Obispo, is a county on the Central Coast of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 282,424. The county seat is San Luis Obispo. Junípero Serra founded the Miss ...

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 ...

, in the northern portion of the Carrizo Plain.

Geography

California Wildflowers off Bitterwater Rd 23Mar2010

California Valley is located at approximately 35.32° North, 120.01° West. The zoned area of the valley is 24,083 acres (97.5 square kilometers) and it is approximately 1,970 feet (600 m) above sea level. The valley is very nearly flat, bordered to the west by mountains (part of the

Los Padres National Forest Los Padres National Forest is a United States national forest in Southern California, southern and central California. Administered by the United States Forest Service, Los Padres includes most of the mountainous land along the California coast ...

) and to the east by a major fault, the

San Andreas Fault The San Andreas Fault is a continental transform fault that extends roughly through California. It forms the tectonics, tectonic boundary between the Pacific Plate and the North American Plate, and its motion is Fault (geology)#Strike-slip fau ...

(part of the

Temblor Range The Temblor Range is a mountain range within the California Coast Ranges, at the southwestern extremity of the San Joaquin Valley in California in the United States. It runs in a northwest-southeasterly direction along the borders of Kern County a ...

). Immediately south of California Valley is

Soda Lake A soda lake or alkaline lake is a lake on the strongly alkaline side of neutrality, typically with a pH value between 9 and 12. They are characterized by high concentrations of carbonate salts, typically sodium carbonate (and related salt complex ...

, which is part of the Carrizo Plain National Monument.

Demographics

Fewer than 500 people live in California Valley. Residents are attracted to the area by its dry

climate Climate is the long-term weather pattern in an area, typically averaged over 30 years. More rigorously, it is the mean and variability of meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years. Some of the meteorologic ...

and seclusion. Farming, ranching, petroleum development, solar energy projects, and BLM work related to the Carrizo Plain are among current, recent and planned activities in the area.

History

California Valley is believed to have been visited by Native Americans passing through to the sacred site at Painted Rock, but no permanent Indian settlement existed due to a lack of easily accessible water. California Valley was a Spanish

land grant A land grant is a gift of real estate—land or its use privileges—made by a government or other authority as an incentive, means of enabling works, or as a reward for services to an individual, especially in return for military service. Grants ...

, the

El Chicote Ranch EL, El or el may refer to: Religion * El (deity), a Semitic word for "God" People * EL (rapper) (born 1983), stage name of Elorm Adablah, a Ghanaian rapper and sound engineer * El DeBarge, music artist * El Franco Lee (1949–2016), American po ...

, that was used for seasonal

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 ...

raising. Local newspaper archives suggest that

outlaw An outlaw, in its original and legal meaning, is a person declared as outside the protection of the law. In pre-modern societies, all legal protection was withdrawn from the criminal, so that anyone was legally empowered to persecute or kill them ...

s hid in California Valley from time to time up until the 1930s. The Spanish land grant was parceled out in 1960 into over 7,200 2.5 acre (10,000 m²) sections by optimistic

real estate developer Real estate development, or property development, is a business process, encompassing activities that range from the renovation and re-lease of existing buildings to the purchase of raw land and the sale of developed land or parcels to others. R ...

s. According to their own advertising fliers, these 1960 developers believed that the

California State Water Project The California State Water Project, commonly known as the SWP, is a state water management project in the U.S. state of California under the supervision of the California Department of Water Resources. The SWP is one of the largest public wate ...

might bring water to the area. After a more northerly route (closer to Highway 41/ 46) for the State Water Project was selected, many buyers lost heart, many properties were abandoned and the developers went

bankrupt Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debt ...

. Several ranches and other developments built dirt or gravel airstrips and at least one

paved Pavement may refer to: * Pavement (architecture), an outdoor floor or superficial surface covering * Road surface, the durable surfacing of roads and walkways ** Asphalt concrete, a common form of road surface * Sidewalk or pavement, a walkway ...

runway According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft". Runways may be a man-made surface (often asphalt concrete, as ...

was built and was at one time listed on aeronautical charts. A few hundred people have built homes in this isolated area since, but the mass growth once promised never materialized. A Community Services District (CSD) was formed to deliver services to these residents, which includes trash collection, improvement of roads and the upkeep of a

Community Center Community centres, community centers, or community halls are public locations where members of a community tend to gather for group activities, social support, public information, and other purposes. They may sometimes be open for the whole co ...

with a small public

library A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vir ...

. Between 1960 and 2000, refuse and a number of old cars were dumped in the California Valley area, much of it by local residents, posing serious

environmental issues Environmental issues are effects of human activity on the biophysical environment, most often of which are harmful effects that cause environmental degradation. Environmental protection is the practice of protecting the natural environment on t ...

. In 2006, a combined effort by the

California Highway Patrol The California Highway Patrol (CHP) is a state law enforcement agency of the U.S. state of California. The CHP has primary patrol jurisdiction over all California highways and roads and streets outside city limits, and can exercise law enfor ...

California Department of Motor Vehicles The California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) is the state agency that registers motor vehicles and boats and issues driver licenses in the U.S. state of California. It regulates new car dealers (through the New Motor Vehicle Board), c ...

Code Enforcement, and local businesses worked together to remove abandoned vehicles and accumulated trash.

Infrastructure

California Valley is located on Soda Lake Road about two miles (3 km) south of State Route 58. A small general store is closed, as well as the previously popular small restaurant. The community is served by a

school A school is an educational institution designed to provide learning spaces and learning environments for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is sometimes compuls ...

and

community center Community centres, community centers, or community halls are public locations where members of a community tend to gather for group activities, social support, public information, and other purposes. They may sometimes be open for the whole co ...

with

, open only on Wednesdays. Other than State Route 58 and Bitterwater Road, access is mainly through the Carrizo Plain via Soda Lake Road, which is a seasonal improved dirt road south of Soda Lake to State Route 33/ State Route 166; or via smaller seasonal dirt roads to the east and south. No scheduled bus routes serve the community, and there are no rail lines.

Private airport

The private and restricted

California Valley Airport California Valley Airport was a privately owned restricted-use (apparently closed) airport located adjacent to the community center of California Valley, California, California Valley, in the sparsely populated Carrizo Plain of San Luis Obispo Cou ...

Class II-C paved runway extends south from the community center but is not marked on current aeronautical charts and is painted at the south end with a white "X" indicating that it is closed although it can be used with advance permission.

Services

Community services are provided by the California Valley Community Service District (CSD). This includes road maintenance and limited trash service. The Community Center includes a fire station, small library, and community assembly hall. The address is 13084 Soda Lake Road, on the south side of Soda Lake Road, approximately south of Highway 58, in the village of California Valley. Water, a porta-potty and a pay phone are available at the Community Center. The quality of the water is in dispute. Many California Valley residents consider the water potable, but signage to the contrary has been posted in the past.

Electricity Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described ...

is available in parts of California Valley.

Telephone A telephone is a telecommunications device that permits two or more users to conduct a conversation when they are too far apart to be easily heard directly. A telephone converts sound, typically and most efficiently the human voice, into e ...

service is available through SBC. The local prefix is (

805 __NOTOC__ Year 805 ( DCCCV) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * Siege of Patras: Local Slavic tribes of the Peloponnese lay siege t ...

) 475-XXXX. There is strong analog

mobile phone A mobile phone, cellular phone, cell phone, cellphone, handphone, hand phone or pocket phone, sometimes shortened to simply mobile, cell, or just phone, is a portable telephone that can make and receive calls over a radio frequency link whil ...

coverage and limited ("

backscatter In physics, backscatter (or backscattering) is the reflection of waves, particles, or signals back to the direction from which they came. It is usually a diffuse reflection due to scattering, as opposed to specular reflection as from a mirror, a ...

GSM The Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) is a standard developed by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) to describe the protocols for second-generation ( 2G) digital cellular networks used by mobile devices such ...

mobile phone coverage, as well as limited Nextel coverage. Verizon Wireless does have a sole tower which overlooks and covers a good portion of the valley. The local zip code is 93453. Mail is delivered to drop boxes at the

. Main roads (Belmont Trail, Soda Lake Road, Seven Mile Road) are paved to an extent. Others are packed dirt or decomposed granite. Other than the main roads, the only maintained roads are those with homes on them. Roads are frequently maintained only up to residential driveways. Blue "No Services" signs are posted at major intersections leading into the California Valley area. No gas stations exist in the California Valley area. The nearest gasoline stations are in Taft/Maricopa, Atascadero/Santa Margarita, and on the outskirts of Paso Robles. This has led to stranded travelers on a number of occasions.

Tow truck A tow truck (also called a wrecker, a breakdown truck, recovery vehicle or a breakdown lorry) is a truck used to move disabled, improperly parked, impounded, or otherwise indisposed motor vehicles. This may involve recovering a vehicle damaged ...

service is available but may be delayed for several hours. Law enforcement is provided by the County

Sheriff A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland that is commonly transla ...

, but there is no local office or assigned unit. The

infrequently patrols Highway 58. No

medical Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care practic ...

services (doctors, clinics, hospitals) are available in the California Valley area. Fire and rescue services are provided by San Luis Obispo County Fire Station #42 located at the Community Center. The Station is staffed Tuesday through Thursday.

Helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...

MEDEVAC Medical evacuation, often shortened to medevac or medivac, is the timely and efficient movement and en route care provided by medical personnel to wounded being evacuated from a battlefield, to injured patients being evacuated from the scene of a ...

service from Santa Maria and

Bakersfield Bakersfield is a city in Kern County, California, United States. It is the county seat and largest city of Kern County. The city covers about near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley and the Central Valley region. Bakersfield's populat ...

is available, weather permitting.

Schools

The local school is Carrisa Plains

Elementary School A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ed ...

, built in 1953, with about 46 students in attendance. The few high school students are bused to

Atascadero, California Atascadero (Spanish for "Mire") is a city in San Luis Obispo County, California, about equidistant from Los Angeles and San Francisco on U.S. Route 101. Atascadero is part of the San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles metropolitan statistical area, which e ...

, which had one of the last high school dormitories in California until the 1990s for their use. The nearest community college is in Taft. The nearest four-year university is

California Polytechnic State University California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (California Polytechnic State University, Cal Poly"Cal Poly" may also refer to California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt in Arcata, California or California State Polytechnic Univ ...

, San Luis Obispo.

Nearby communities and services

The even smaller community of Simmler is about northeast along Highway 58. The

Bureau of Land Management The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior responsible for administering federal lands. Headquartered in Washington DC, and with oversight over , it governs one eighth of the country's la ...

operates the Carrizo Plain National Monument Guy L. Goodwin Education Center about south on Soda Lake Road during limited hours for several months of the year.

Natural resources and climate

California Valley is on the Carrizo Plain, which is an arid grassland. Only limited drinkable

groundwater Groundwater is the water present beneath Earth's surface in rock and soil pore spaces and in the fractures of rock formations. About 30 percent of all readily available freshwater in the world is groundwater. A unit of rock or an unconsolidate ...

is available. Nearby

is an alkali lake and undrinkable. "The future development of California Valley is anticipated to be limited by water availability"—San Luis Obispo County General Plan. Alkaline soils hinder attempts at agricultural development. The Carrizo Plain National Monument, administered by the

United States Bureau of Land Management The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior responsible for administering federal lands. Headquartered in Washington DC, and with oversight over , it governs one eighth of the country's la ...

, was established to protect elements of native history and the undeveloped ecology of the southern part of the valley.

Industry and uses

Most residents are retirees or have other outside incomes. Neighboring

ranch A ranch (from es, rancho/Mexican Spanish) is an area of land, including various structures, given primarily to ranching, the practice of raising grazing livestock such as cattle and sheep. It is a subtype of a farm. These terms are most often ...

es raise

. Some of the empty residential-zoned lands are used for illegal sheep

grazing In agriculture, grazing is a method of animal husbandry whereby domestic livestock are allowed outdoors to roam around and consume wild vegetations in order to convert the otherwise indigestible (by human gut) cellulose within grass and other ...

under contract with the Community Service District. Litigation brought upon the CSD by several residents resulted in the CSD banning grazing agreements and an undisclosed settlement amount. Other activities of interest in California Valley include an Indian

sweat lodge A sweat lodge is a low profile hut, typically dome-shaped or oblong, and made with natural materials. The structure is the ''lodge'', and the ceremony performed within the structure may be called by some cultures a purification ceremony or simply ...

hot air balloon A hot air balloon is a lighter-than-air aircraft consisting of a bag, called an envelope, which contains heated air. Suspended beneath is a gondola or wicker basket (in some long-distance or high-altitude balloons, a capsule), which carries p ...

ing,

bird-watching Birdwatching, or birding, is the observing of birds, either as a recreational activity or as a form of citizen science. A birdwatcher may observe by using their naked eye, by using a visual enhancement device like binoculars or a telescope, by ...

, and

astronomy Astronomy () is a natural science that studies astronomical object, celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and chronology of the Universe, evolution. Objects of interest ...

, due to clear skies and no

light pollution Light pollution is the presence of unwanted, inappropriate, or excessive use of artificial Visible spectrum, lighting. In a descriptive sense, the term ''light pollution'' refers to the effects of any poorly implemented lighting, during the day ...

. In particular, Highway 58 is a popular route for

car A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarded as ...

and

motorcycle touring Motorcycle touring is a format of tourism that involves a motorcycle. It has been a subject of note since at least 1915. Motorcycle touring involves special equipment and techniques. A touring motorcycle optimized for long range travel and lugga ...

enthusiasts due to very low traffic and winding roads. With the recent surge (and equally sudden decline) in oil prices, along with state emphasis on development of renewable energy sources, solar energy firms have studied California Valley and adjacent areas for siting possible solar power generating facilities. As the area is one of the sunniest in the United States, and competition from other economically self-sustaining land uses has been minimal, several such facilities are already under consideration. Two solar plants,

California Valley Solar Ranch The California Valley Solar Ranch (CVSR) is a 250 megawatt (MW AC) photovoltaic power plant in the Carrizo Plain, northeast of California Valley. The project is owned by NRG Energy, and SunPower is the EPC contractor and technology provider ...

250MW (

SunPower SunPower is an American provider of photovoltaic solar energy generation systems and battery energy storage products, primarily for residential customers. The company, headquartered in San Jose, California, was founded in 1985 by Richard Swa ...

) and

Topaz Solar Farm Topaz Solar Farm is a 550 megawatt ( MWAC) photovoltaic power station in San Luis Obispo County, California, United States. Construction on the project began in November 2011 and ended in November 2014. It is one of the world's largest sola ...

550MW (

First Solar First Solar, Inc. is an American manufacturer of solar panels, and a provider of utility-scale PV power plants and supporting services that include finance, construction, maintenance and end-of-life panel recycling. First Solar uses rigid thi ...

/ MidAmerican) are under construction and already providing power to the state grid; another smaller plant, by Ausra, was purchased by First Solar and incorporated into Topaz Solar Farm. The combined Ausra and OptiSolar projects make Topaz Solar Farm one of the largest photovoltaic power plants in the world. The two projects, about 10 miles apart, also represent two of the largest solar power contracts for Pacific Gas & Electric Company, which is under state mandate to increase its supply of renewable electricity to 33 percent by 2020.

References

External links

Carrisa Plains School

Shandon/Carrizo Area Plan, Land Use and Circulation Element, General Plan, County of San Luis Obispo

SLO County Grand Jury investigation into California Valley CSD

California Valley Community Services District

Atascadero Chamber of Commerce page

Airport Details
mentioned in 2/08 letter to California Energy Commission regarding solar farm plan.
California Valley Weather by Weather Underground

Carrizo Plain Weather by MesoWest, University of Utah

gMaps: MesoWest WX sensor site, about 20mi.SE of CA Valley

TopoZone USGS Map excerpt
{{authority control Unincorporated communities in San Luis Obispo County, California Unincorporated communities in California