Ventana Wilderness

File:Ventana Window.jpg

The Ventana Wilderness is named for the unique notch called "The Window" (ventana in Spanish) on a ridge near Ventana Double Cone. According to local legend, this notch was once a natural stone arch.{{cite web |title=Hiking in Big Sur |publisher=Big Sur Chamber of Commerce |url=http://www.bigsurcalifornia.org/hiking.html |access-date=April 30, 2009}}

Archaeological evidence shows that the Esselen lived in Big Sur as early as 3500 BC, leading a nomadic, hunter-gatherer existence.{{ cite book | first1=Elliott |last1 =Analise |title= Hiking & Backpacking Big Sur |year= 2005 |publisher= Wilderness Press | location=Berkeley, California |page =21}}{{cite web|last1=Pavlik|first1=Robert C.|title=Historic Resource Evaluation Report on the Rock Retaining Walls, Parapets, Culvert Headwalls and Drinking Fountains along the Carmel to San Simeon Highway.|url=http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist05/projects/bigsur/pdfs/chmp_hist.pdf|publisher=California Department of Transportation|access-date=August 23, 2016|date=November 1996}}

The indigenous people lived near the coast in winter, where they harvested rich stocks of mussels, abalone and other sea life. In the summer and fall they moved inland to harvest acorns gathered from the black oak, canyon live oak and tanbark oak, primarily on upper slopes in areas on the upper slopes of the steep canyons.{{cite book|last=Henson|first=Paul|others=Donald J. Usner|title=The Natural History of Big Sur|location=Berkeley|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=0-520-20510-3|year=1993|url=http://sulcus.berkeley.edu/wjf/m/NaturalHistoryOfBigSur.pdf/|access-date=2009-11-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100617070622/http://sulcus.berkeley.edu/wjf/m/NaturalHistoryOfBigSur.pdf|archive-date=2010-06-17|url-status=dead}}{{rp|270}}

Pico Blanco, which splits the north and south forks of the Little Sur River, was sacred in the native traditions of the Rumsien and the Esselen, who revered the mountain as a sacred place from which all life originated.{{cite book|last=Elliot|first= Analise |title=Hiking & Backpacking Big Sur: A Complete Guide to the Trails of Big Sur |publisher=Wilderness Press|date=January 2005|pages=323|isbn=0-89997-326-4|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=748WcMN8NsMC}} The Spanish mission system led to the virtual destruction of the Indian population. Estimates for the pre-contact populations of most native groups in California have varied substantially. Alfred L. Kroeber suggests a 1770 population for the Esselen of 500.Kroeber, p.883 Sherburne F. Cook raises this estimate to 750.Cook, p.186 A more recent calculation (based on baptism records and density) is that they numbered 1,185-1,285.{{cite web|last=Breschini|first=Gary S.|title=A Brief Overview of the Esselen Indians of Monterey County|url=http://www.mchsmuseum.com/esselen.html|publisher=Montery County Historical Society|access-date=November 3, 2011|author2=Trudy Haversat|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111122003607/http://www.mchsmuseum.com/esselen.html|archive-date=November 22, 2011}}

U.S. Forest Service Chief Forester R. Y. Stuart ordered the Monterey Ranger District to establish the Ventana Primitive Area. It originally consisted of {{convert|45520|acre|ha|0}} and was enlarged in 1937 to about {{convert|55884|acre}}. When the U.S. Congress passed the Wilderness Act of 1964, the Ventana Primitive Area was formally designated as wilderness by law, rather than by a Forest Service regulation, which made the area's status subject to change at will. The Ventana Wilderness Area was formally established on August 18, 1969. The Ventana initially included {{convert|164554|acre|ha|0}} acres of primarily extremely rugged terrain within the Santa Lucia Range of the Monterey Ranger District.

In 1978, the Endangered American Wilderness Act added {{convert|61000|acre|ha}}, increasing the total wilderness area to about {{convert|159000|acre|ha}}. The California Wilderness Act of 1984 added about {{convert|2750|acre|ha|0}}. In 1992, the Los Padres Condor Range and River Protection Act created the approximately {{convert|14500|acre|ha|adj=on}} Silver Peak Wilderness and added about {{convert|38800|acre|ha}} to the Ventana Wilderness. In 1998, the Ventana Wilderness Alliance was organized. At their founding, they conducted an inventory of public lands within the Los Padres National Forest Monterey Ranger District. Their goal was to assess the suitability of land in the region for inclusion in federal wilderness. Their findings persuaded US Congressman Sam Farr to sponsor the Big Sur Wilderness and Conservation Act.Big Sur Wilderness and Conservation Act, {{uspl|107|370}} On December 19, 2002, the Act added {{convert|33,967|acre}} to the existing wilderness bringing it to a total of {{convert|240,026|acre}}.,{{cite web |title=Ventana Wilderness |url=https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/lpnf/recarea/?recid=10974 |website=United States Department of Agriculture |access-date=19 April 2020}} increasing the total acreage of the wilderness to its present size of {{convert|240026|acre|ha|0}}. A very small part, {{convert|736|acre|ha|0}}, on the eastern edge of the wilderness is managed by the Bureau of Land Management.{{cite web|title=Ventana Wilderness|url=http://www.blm.gov/ca/st/en/fo/hollister/wilderness/ventana_additions.html|publisher= Bureau Of Land Management|access-date=7 September 2016}}

File:Pico Blanco.jpg

The topography of the Ventana Wilderness is characterized by steep-sided, sharp-crested ridges separating V-shaped youthful valleys. Most streams fall rapidly through narrow, vertical-walled canyons over bedrock or a veneer of boulders. Waterfalls, deep pools and thermal springs are found along major streams. Elevations range from {{convert|600|ft|m}}, where the Big Sur River leaves the Wilderness, to about {{convert|5750|ft|m}} at the wilderness boundary near Junipero Serra Peak.

{{Weather box

|location = Ventana Wilderness

|single line = Y

|Jan high F = 51.2

|Feb high F = 50.6

|Mar high F = 53.1

|Apr high F = 57.4

|May high F = 64.3

|Jun high F = 73.1

|Jul high F = 81.0

|Aug high F = 80.2

|Sep high F = 76.5

|Oct high F = 68.5

|Nov high F = 56.7

|Dec high F = 49.9

|year high F =

|Jan low F = 38.5

|Feb low F = 36.9

|Mar low F = 38.4

|Apr low F = 40.2

|May low F = 47.1

|Jun low F = 54.4

|Jul low F = 62.1

|Aug low F = 61.6

|Sep low F = 57.3

|Oct low F = 49.7

|Nov low F = 42.4

|Dec low F = 37.9

|year low F =

|precipitation colour = green

|Jan precipitation inch = 15.15

|Feb precipitation inch = 13.79

|Mar precipitation inch = 9.80

|Apr precipitation inch = 4.35

|May precipitation inch = 1.80

|Jun precipitation inch = 0.51

|Jul precipitation inch = 0.14

|Aug precipitation inch = 0.05

|Sep precipitation inch = 0.16

|Oct precipitation inch = 2.60

|Nov precipitation inch = 5.63

|Dec precipitation inch = 12.04

|year precipitation inch =

|source 1 = prism

{{cite web

|url =

|publisher = National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

|title = U.S. Climate Normals - Ventana Wilderness

}}

}}

File:Ceanothus thyrsiflorus 5.jpg

Marked vegetation changes occur within the Wilderness, attributable to dramatic climatic and topographic variations coupled with an extensive fire history. Much of the Ventana Wilderness is covered by dense communities of chaparral, a group of fire-prone plant species, consisting largely of chamise and various species of manzanita and ceanothus. Other plant communities found in area include oak woodland (coast live oak, valley oak, etc.) and pine woodlands (Coulter pine and Knobcone pine). Poison oak is found throughout the area. Deep narrow canyons cut by the fast moving Big Sur and Little Sur rivers support stands of coastal redwood (some old-growth forest), big leaf maple, and sycamore. Small scattered stands of the rare, endemic bristlecone fir may be found on rocky slopes and canyon bottoms. Mountain lion, bobcat, bear, deer, fox and coyotes range the wilderness, as does the California condor, reintroduced to the region by the Ventana Wildlife Society.{{cite news |url=http://www.montereyherald.com/general-news/20160901/soberanes-fire-could-be-beneficial-for-condors |title=Soberanes Fire could be beneficial for condors |first=Tommy |last=Wright |newspaper=The Monterey County Herald |date=September 1, 2016 |access-date=4 September 2016}}

During the 1930s, the United States Civilian Conservation Corps constructed an extensive network of trails and trailheads that provided access to the Wilderness. A number of these are no longer in use.{{cite book|last1=Blakely|first1=Jim|first2=Karen |last2= Barnette|title=Historical Overview: Los Padres National Forest|date=July 1985|url=http://lpfw.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/19850700_Blakley_HistoricalOverviewLPNF.pdf}} The Pine Ridge trailhead at Big Sur Station near Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park is by far the most popular starting point.[http://www.wilderness.net/index.cfm?fuse=NWPS&sec=wildView&WID=625 Wilderness.net] {{Reflist}}

{{Big Sur|state=collapsed}}

• Hiking the Big Sur Country, Jeffrey P. Schaffer (1988) {{ISBN|0-89997-083-4}}
• Map of Ventana Wilderness, Los Padres National Forest, USDA Forest Service (1987)
• Trail Guide to Los Padres National Forest, Ventana Chapter, Sierra Club (2003) {{ISBN|0-9650652-0-0}}

• [http://www.fs.fed.us/r5/lospadres/recreation/wilderness/ Wilderness Areas, Los Padres National Forest]
• [http://www.ventanawild.org/news/fe02/mrdmaps.html A Brief Land Status History of the Monterey Ranger District, David Rogers (2002)]

{{Protected areas of California|NF}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Wilderness areas of California

Category:Monterey Ranger District, Los Padres National Forest

Category:Protected areas of Monterey County, California

Category:Protected areas established in 1969

Category:1969 establishments in California

Category:Santa Lucia Range

Category:Big Sur