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In the United States, the EPA and the United States Geological Survey (USGS) are the principal federal agencies working with the CEC to define and map ecoregions. Ecoregions may be identified by similarities in geology , physiography , vegetation , climate , soils , land use , wildlife distributions, and hydrology .
The California coastal sage and chaparral (Spanish: Salvia y chaparral costero de California) is a Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub ecoregion, defined by the World Wildlife Fund, located in southwestern California (United States) and northwestern Baja California .
The region has been heavily affected by grazing, logging, dams, and water diversions, intensive agriculture and urbanization, as well as competition by numerous introduced or exotic plant and animal species. Some unique plant communities, like southern California's Coastal Sage Scrub, have
Coastal California is heavily influenced by east–west distances to the dominant cold California Current as well as microclimates.Due to hills and coast ranges having strong meteorological effects, summer and winter temperatures (other than occasional heat waves) are heavily moderated by ocean currents and fog with strong seasonal lags compared to interior valleys as little as 10 mi (16 km) away.
California is a U.S. state on the western coast of North America. Covering an area of 163,696 sq mi (423,970 km 2 ), California is among the most geographically diverse states. The Sierra Nevada , the fertile farmlands of the Central Valley , and the arid Mojave Desert of the south are some of the geographic features of this U.S. state .
The coast of California north of San Francisco contains the Northern California coastal forests (as defined by the WWF) and the southern section of the Coast Range ecoregion (as defined by the EPA). This ecoregion is dominated by redwood forest, containing the tallest and some of the oldest trees in the world. [22]
An Environmentally Sensitive Habitat Area (ESHA - pronounced ē'-sha) is a designated protective area within the Coastal Zone of California, United States, as described in the California Coastal Act and Certified Local Coastal Programs for local government. [1] An example of an ESHA location is Oceano Dunes. [2]
The California Coastal Commission (CCC) is a state agency within the California Natural Resources Agency with quasi-judicial control of land and public access along the state's 1,100 miles (1,800 km) of coastline. Its mission as defined in the California Coastal Act is "to protect, conserve, restore, and enhance the environment of the ...