Misplaced Pages

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40-589: The reservoir is in the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains , at an elevation of 645 feet (197 m). State Route 17 runs alongside the dam's western edge and over part of the reservoir. Alma Bridge Road (Limekiln Canyon Road) runs around the eastern side, connecting with 17 at the north end and again at the south end via other surface streets. The reservoir is contained in Lexington Reservoir County Park , which includes hiking trails in

80-417: A " Lexington Reservoir & Lenihan Dam Project " page on its website . Besides serving as a water supply for the area, the lake is used for rowing, paddling, and fishing. Swimming is not allowed at Lexington Reservoir. Santa Clara County Parks and Recreation Department manages the 914-acre (3.70 km) Lexington Reservoir County Park. The park provides facilities for hiking and picnicking. For fishing,

120-571: A "nest" (spawning ground) in the bed where a female is induced to deposit her eggs , then the male externally fertilizes them. The male continues to guard the eggs and fry until they disperse from the nest. Various black base species have been introduced into freshwater bodies outside North America, where they become invasive in many instances. In Japan , they have been declared nuisance fish and are subjected to numerous attempts at eradicating them from local ecosystems. Currently, 13 recognized species are placed in this genus: A 14th species,

160-406: A 24-hour period are ~20–30 °F apart on average but can be as much as 50 °F apart during heat waves depending on location. There is also considerable variation in temperature from day to day in both summer and winter with shifting wind directions, and fluctuations in the degree or marine influence. Average winter highs range from the low 60s °F (~16–18 °C) in the coastal valleys to

200-503: A Mediterranean type climate typical of most of California, with the majority of the annual precipitation falling between November and April. According to the National Weather Service , this totals more than 50 inches (127 cm) annually. Heavy summer fogs frequently cover the western ocean-facing slopes and valleys, resulting in drizzle and fog drip caused by condensation on the redwoods, pines, and other trees, which sustains

240-425: A bridge across Black Creek, built in 1926. The bridge, along with a few house foundations from the towns of Lexington and Alma, were exposed in 2008 when the reservoir was drained for dam maintenance. These historical structures have been exposed only three or four times since the dam was constructed. Santa Cruz Mountains The Santa Cruz Mountains ( Mutsun Ohlone : Mak-sah-re-jah, "Sharp Ridged Mountain of

280-731: A gap at Lexington Reservoir ; south of the gap, the mountain range is known as the Sierra Azul . The highest point in the range is Loma Prieta , 11 miles (18 km) west of Morgan Hill , with a height of 3,786 feet (1,154 m), near the epicenter of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake . Other major peaks include Mount Umunhum at 3,486 feet (1,063 m), Mount Thayer at 3,479 feet (1,060 m), Mount Bielawski at 3,231 feet (985 m), El Sombroso at 2,999 feet (914 m), Eagle Rock at 2,488 feet (758 m), Black Mountain at 2,812 feet (857 m), and Sierra Morena at 2,417 feet (737 m). The San Andreas Fault runs along or near

320-412: A more drought-resistant chaparral vegetation dominates: manzanita , California scrub oak , chamise , and chaparral pea . The rare sandhills habitat supports disjunct populations of Ponderosa pine and several endemic species of plants, including Santa Cruz cypress , silverleaf manzanita , and Santa Cruz wallflower . Spring wildflowers are also widespread throughout the range. The area welcomes

360-420: A tremendous number of species of birds . (see: bird list ). Black-tailed deer, a subspecies of mule deer are common, as are western gray squirrels , chipmunks and raccoons . Periodic sightings of black bears indicate they frequent the mountains or wander north from Big Sur , where black bears are established . Foxes , coyotes , bobcats , cougars and human-introduced Virginia opossums also inhabit

400-697: Is protected by the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District , the Peninsula Open Space Trust (POST), the Sempervirens Fund and local county parks districts. Hiking, horse-riding, mountain biking, rock climbing, and backpacking are popular activities. There are two long-distance trails in the range: the Skyline-to-the-Sea Trail , which winds 38 miles (61 km) from Castle Rock State Park through Big Basin to

440-406: Is quite edible and firm, although they are not regarded as commercial food fish . All black bass species have a dull-green base coloring with dark patterns on the sides. Most reach a maximum overall length of 40–60 cm (16–24 in), but some strains of the largemouth bass have been reported to grow to almost 1 metre (3 ft 3 in) in length. In spawning seasons, the male builds

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480-502: The Choctaw bass Micropterus haiaka , has been proposed, but this does not yet appear to have been widely accepted. A further two species, the Altamaha bass and Bartram's bass, are as yet undescribed and have been included under the redeye bass. A genomic analysis in 2022 described new species and found that the binomials , M. salmoides and M. floridanus as used above are misapplied to

520-617: The Rocky Mountains , from the Hudson Bay basin in Canada to northeastern Mexico . Several species, notably the largemouth and smallmouth bass , have been very widely introduced throughout the world, and are now considered cosmopolitan . All black bass species are highly sought-after game fish and well known as strong fighters when hooked , and bass fishing is an extremely popular outdoor sport throughout their native range. Their meat

560-629: The Salinas Valley . The range passes through the counties of San Mateo , Santa Clara , and Santa Cruz , with the Pajaro River forming the southern boundary. The northernmost portion of the Santa Cruz Mountains, north of Half Moon Bay Road ( SR 92 ), is known as Montara Mountain ; the middle portion is the Sierra Morena, which includes a summit called Sierra Morena, and extends south to

600-517: The Santa Clara Valley was being diminished rapidly and a dam was needed on Los Gatos Creek, with one goal being to percolate the water into the ground and ultimately increase the amount of well water available. After rerouting State Route 17 near Windy Point, which is a mile south of Los Gatos, the District began dam construction in the spring of 1952, completing it that fall. The reservoir covered

640-640: The 2016 Loma Fire , the 2009 Lockheed Fire and the Summit Fire in 2008. The Santa Cruz Mountains are home to an abundance of parks and protected open spaces, notable among them is California's oldest state park: Big Basin Redwoods State Park . Other state parks include Castle Rock State Park , Portola Redwoods State Park , Butano State Park , The Forest of Nisene Marks State Park , McNee Ranch State Park and Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park with its famous Redwood Grove walking trail. Additional land

680-834: The Eagle" or "People of the Eagle Mountain") are a mountain range in central and Northern California , United States , constituting a part of the Pacific Coast Ranges . They form a ridge down the San Francisco Peninsula , south of San Francisco . They separate the Pacific Ocean from the San Francisco Bay and the Santa Clara Valley , and continue south to the Central Coast , bordering Monterey Bay and ending at

720-520: The Pacific Ocean, and the Bay Area Ridge Trail , which, while still disjointed, here roughly parallels Skyline Boulevard along the spine of the range. There also exist several backcountry campsites in many of the state parks that enable long distance multi-day outings. Castle Rock State Park has open rock faces suitable for rock climbing and bouldering. The previous historic Old Almaden Winery

760-577: The Santa Cruz Mountains-Gabilan Range Wildlife Corridor with the 2,640 acres (4.13 sq mi) Rocks Ranch in Aromas at the border of San Benito and Monterey counties. Both critical wildlife linkages will require installation of wildlife crossings to enable passage across U.S. Highway 101. The land trust monitored the new wildlife crossing in 2023 for activity at Laurel Curve on Route 17. The Santa Cruz Mountains have

800-661: The area in the Santa Cruz mountains is temperate rainforest . In valleys and moist ocean-facing slopes some of the southernmost coast redwoods grow, along with coast Douglas-fir . Coast live oak , Pacific madrone , Pacific wax myrtle , big leaf maple , California bay laurel , and California black oak also occur in the Santa Cruz Mountains. There do exist several small and isolated stands of old-growth forest , most notably at Henry Cowell Redwoods and Portola Redwoods State Parks and one sizeable old-growth redwood forest at Big Basin . At higher elevations and on sunny south slopes

840-498: The base of the dam, from the reservoir to Los Gatos Creek. The old pipe was replaced with a 54-inch (1,400 mm)-diameter pipe, new valves, outlet structures, and a control building. The increase in size was made to allow the reservoir to drain quickly enough to prevent dam collapse during emergencies, such as after a major earthquake that could cause cracks in the dam, or during a series of heavy winter storms. A collapse would pose flooding risks to Los Gatos and Campbell. The old pipe

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880-610: The gold. Their sensational trial in San Jose drew national attention similar to that accorded to the Lizzie Borden ax murders nine years later. Majors and one of the thugs were hanged. The other spent 15 years in prison. In September 2007, the Santa Clara Valley Water District began its “Lenihan Dam Outlet Project” at Lexington Reservoir. This project replaced the old 48-inch (1,200 mm) outlet pipe that ran through

920-412: The higher elevations are deprived of marine influence and will often be subject to intense heat waves with daytime temperatures in the 95–105 °F (~35–40 °C) range and extreme low humidity with elevated overnight lows that offer little relief from the heat. Such conditions can lead to fires that can occur even before the official State of California fire season starts. Examples of such fires include

960-477: The hills with good views of the reservoir and of Silicon Valley . The Los Gatos Creek Trail starts at the dam and continues downstream along the creek's canyon. It is part of the Santa Clara Valley Water District and provides water for Silicon Valley. In 1943, because of the rapid expansion of orchards in the county, the Santa Clara Valley Water District determined that the well water in

1000-760: The historic Judgment of Paris wine competition on May 24, 1976. The Santa Cruz Mountains are largely the result of compressive uplift caused by a leftward bend of the San Andreas Fault . The Salinian Block basement rocks are overlain by Miocene rock strata of the Lompico Sandstone , the Vaqueros Sandstone and the Santa Margarita Formation . The Santa Cruz Mountains are a region of great biological diversity, encompassing cool, moist coastal ecosystems as well as warm, dry chaparral . Much of

1040-402: The lack of cold air drainage. Summer temperatures regularly reach highs in the 80s °F (~28–30 °C) with nighttime usually in the upper 40s to lower 60s °F (~9–18 °C) depending on elevation, distance from the ocean and degree of marine inversion present. Summer weather is dominated by a persistent marine layer that can vary in depth. When the inversion layer drops below 300–500 feet,

1080-1210: The moisture-loving redwood forests. Due to a rain shadow effect, precipitation on the eastern side of the range is significantly less, about 25 inches (64 cm) a year. Snow falls a few times a year on the highest ridges, and more rarely the higher valleys receive light dustings. The National Weather Service 's cooperative weather stations in the mountains have included Black Mountain 2WSW – average annual rainfall 36.65 inches (931 mm), maximum annual rainfall 80.66 inches (2,049 mm), average annual snowfall 0.7-inch (18 mm), maximum annual snowfall 8.0 inches (200 mm); Los Gatos 5SW – average annual rainfall 26.45 inches (672 mm), maximum annual rainfall 103.23 inches (2,622 mm), average snowfall 2.7 inches (69 mm), maximum annual snowfall 9.0 inches (230 mm); and Wrights – average annual rainfall 46.09 inches (1,171 mm), maximum annual rainfall 87.65 inches (2,226 mm), average annual snowfall 1.2-inch (30 mm), maximum annual snowfall 10.6 inches (270 mm). No temperature records were kept at these stations. The Santa Cruz Mountains are subject to sharp diurnal temperature fluctuations . The highs and low within

1120-454: The mountains from Daly City to Castroville while SR 85 runs parallel from Cupertino to San Jose . There are over 30 wineries located in this region and the Santa Cruz Mountains have been a legally defined American Viticultural Area (AVA) since 1981. Wine has been produced here since at least the 1840s. The Santa Cruz Mountain AVA emerged as a premier producer of top wines as recognized in

1160-549: The mountains. Lexington declined after 1880 when the railroad from Los Gatos to Santa Cruz bypassed it, while Alma declined when Highway 17 bypassed it in 1940. The railroad ceased operations in 1940. By 1950, only about 100 people lived in the two communities. Lexington gained national attention in 1883, when a Los Gatos saloon keeper, Lloyd Majors, hired two thugs to rob an elderly Lexington man who kept $ 20,000 in gold in his cabin. They burned him with turpentine-soaked rags and beat him with pistols, killing him, and then fled with

1200-453: The ranch. Black bass Micropterus is a genus of North American freshwater fish collectively known as the black bass , which belong to the sunfish family Centrarchidae of order Perciformes . They are sometimes erroneously called "black trout", but the name trout more correctly refers to certain potamodromous members of the family Salmonidae (order Salmoniformes ). Micropterus are widely distributed east of

1240-524: The region but are rarely seen. Rattlesnakes are also inhabitants, mostly in the high, dry chaparral. There are two potential critical wildlife linkages which could enable species such as puma ( Puma concolor ) and tule elk ( Cervus canadensis nannodes ) to move from and to the Santa Cruz Mountains by connecting to their counterparts in the Diablo Range to the east, as well as in the Gabilan Range to

Lexington Reservoir - Misplaced Pages Continue

1280-411: The reservoir is stocked with black bass , trout , bluegill , and crappie . The California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) has developed a safe eating advisory for Lexington Reservoir based on levels of mercury or PCBs found in fish caught from this water body. The park includes part of the San Andreas Fault , which crosses Los Gatos Creek just south of the upstream end of

1320-466: The reservoir. The mountains feature redwood forests, chaparral , grasslands , hardwoods , and mixed conifer habitats. When the level of Lexington Reservoir drops, it is possible to see portions of the old roads that were used in the construction of the reservoir and that served the historic towns of Lexington and Alma that were covered by the reservoir. Some building foundations in the ghost towns are also visible at times. The photo at right shows

1360-828: The ridge line throughout the range. The interior east side of the mountains drops abruptly towards this fault line, especially near the towns of Woodside and Saratoga . For much of the San Francisco Peninsula, State Route 35 (SR 35) runs along the ridge, and is known as " Skyline Boulevard ", while Interstate 280 runs east of the ridges. The major routes across the mountains are (from north to south): SR 92 from Half Moon Bay to San Mateo , SR 84 from San Gregorio to Redwood City , SR 9 from Santa Cruz to Saratoga , SR 17 from Santa Cruz to Los Gatos , SR 152 from Watsonville to Gilroy , SR 129 from Watsonville to San Juan Bautista , and US Highway 101 from Salinas to Gilroy. Meanwhile, SR 1 runs parallel to

1400-796: The south. The first is Coyote Valley , which at its northern end, is only 0.4 miles (0.64 km) wide, a narrow gap between the Diablo Range and the Santa Cruz Mountains' Tulare Hill foothill in south San Jose, California . The second critical wildlife passage lies between the southern Santa Cruz Mountains and the northern Gabilan Range, and runs from lands between Mount Pajaro and Rancho Juristac , in southern Santa Cruz and Santa Clara counties respectively, south across California State Route 129 and U.S. Highway 101 to lands between Pinecate Peak and San Juan Bautista in San Benito County. The Land Trust of Santa Cruz County has protected

1440-436: The towns of Lexington and Alma . Alma and Lexington reached their peak population in the mid-19th century, when about 200 people lived in each. Each of the towns had a post office, hotel, saloons , blacksmith shops, and half a dozen redwood sawmills . Lexington was the halfway stop for stagecoaches running between San Jose and Santa Cruz . The town served as a place to switch from four horses to six horses to get over

1480-495: The upper 50's °F (~14–15 °C) in the valleys further inland. Average Winter overnight lows are a function of topography and can vary significantly, from an average low of 37 °F (~3 °C) in the valleys to ~42–44 °F (~6–7 °C) in the thermal belts above the inversion layer where cold air can readily drain off the slopes. Thermal inversions occur primarily during the Winter when cool air sinks and gets trapped in

1520-536: The valleys at night, often leading to frost and occasional freezes. Higher elevations above the inversion layer usually stay mild with frost being a rare occurrence. The USDA has recently re-classified the hardiness zones for the higher elevations as USDA 10a to 10b to reflect the lack of frost at those locations. However, while the higher elevations are less prone to frost, they are also more likely to experience occasional snow accumulations. The valleys in contrast are rated USDA 9b with some locations as cold as 9a due to

1560-516: Was aging, and required frequent maintenance, and repairs; it had collapsed in several places. The new outlet pipe, which runs through a new tunnel in Saint Joseph's Hill, on the east side of the dam, also features new actuating valves, and a new intake structure. The project was completed in Fall of 2009, and “first release” celebration was held on Oct. 20, 2009. The Santa Clara Valley Water District features

1600-850: Was located on the eastern slopes of the Santa Cruz Mountains. It was the first commercial winery in California, planting high quality European (French) varietal vines. Film director Alfred Hitchcock and his wife Alma had their primary residence, the Cornwall Ranch, near Scotts Valley , purchased in September 1940. In 1965, science fiction author Robert A. Heinlein constructed a home in Bonny Doon , and lived there until shortly before his death in 1988. From 1970 to 2014, singer-songwriter Neil Young lived at Broken Arrow Ranch near Woodside with his family. Many of his songs from this time were recorded at

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