Visit Central Valley

Central Valley California

Visit Central Valley California
The Central Valley or ( The Valley) is a large, flat valley that dominates the central portion of California. Central Valley is home to many of California's most productive agricultural efforts. The valley stretches approximately 450 miles (720 km) from northwest to southeast inland and parallel to the Pacific Ocean coast. The valley´s northern half is referred to as the Sacramento Valley, and the southern half as the San Joaquin Valley. The Sacramento valley receives about 20 inches of rain annually, but the San Joaquin is very dry, often semi-arid desert in many places. The two halves meet at the huge Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta of the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers, a large expanse of interconnected canals, streambeds, sloughs, marshes and peat islands. The Central Valley encompasses around 42,000 square miles (110,000 km2), and making The valley roughly the same size as the state of Tennessee

County	Area	Population	Density
Glenn County	3,440 km2	28,122	3,2/km2
Cities: Willows is the county seat and largest city of Glenn County California. is Orland and the population of Orland  is estimated  at 5,291.  (2013)
Butte County	33,600 km2	220,200	33/km²
Cities: The county seat is Oroville. but the largest City is Chico. Chico is the most populous city in Butte County,  with a population of  88,187 (2014)
Colusa County	2,990 km2	21,419	7,2/km²
Colusa County is located in the U.S. state of California. The population was 21,419 (2010) The county seat is Colusa. Colusa County is located in the Central Valley of California, northwest of the capital, Sacramento.
Yuba County	1,670 km2	73,955	43/km2
Cities: Yuba County is located in the state of California. The population was 73,955(2010) The county seat is Marysville  Yuba City is adjacent to neighboring Yuba County's Marysville, and separated from the latter by the Feather River. Yuba City is now county seat to  Sutter County
Sacramento Valley	2,570 km2	1,488,788	550/km2
Sacramento Valley,  is a county located in the southern portion of the state of California. The population was 1,488,788.  (2014) The county seat is Sacramento, and the largest city is Sacramento.
Sutter County	1,570 km2	94,737	20/km2
Sutter County has a population of 94,737. The county is predominantly agricultural, with more than four-fifths (82.5 percent) of its land area in farms (1992 data), and food and kindred products as its leading industry. Prominent crops include rice and rice seed, prunes, tomatoes, walnuts, peaches, melons, and nursery products. The county seat is Yuba City
Yolo County	2,650 km2	207,849	76/km2
Geographically, Yolo County falls into the Sacramento Valley, as the county is to the north and west of Sacramento County. However, the county also has an association with the San Joaquin Valley by way of the University of California at Davis, in Yolo County, closely involved with San Joaquin Valley agriculture. Yolo county is somewhat unique in any event, however, as home to the only UC campus in the Central Valley. Another Central Valley UC campus is being planned for Merced County. Yolo County's residents tend to be more affluent and better educated than most of the Central Valley counties because of the presence of the University of California campus there. The largest city is Davis.  And the county seat is Woodland (formerly Yolo City)
Solano County	2,570 km2	413,344	510/km2
Solano County is located in California. The population is 413,344.(2014) The county seat is Fairfield, and the largest city is Vallejo. Solano County comprises the Vallejo-Fairfield, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is also included in the San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland, CA Combined Statistical Area.
San Joaquin County	3,600 km2	715,597	190/km2
San Joaquin County California. The population was 715,597.(2014) The county seat is Stockton  Immediately south of Sacramento County, San Joaquin County is in the heart of the agricultural Central Valley, with an astonishing 87.5 percent of its land area in farms (1992 data). What makes this figure surprising is that at the same time the county has a population of over half a million (529,300, January 1, 1996 estimate). Most of the county's population is in incorporated cities: Stockton (233,600), Lodi (54,500), Manteca (44,950), Tracy (44,900), Ripon (9,100), Lathrop (8,850), and Escalon (5,275). The remaining 128,200 are in unincorporated areas. San Joaquin County's leading industry is, not surprisingly, food and kindred products, far outdistancing stone, clay and glass products; lumber and wood products; fabricated metal products; and several others (based on 1992 data). Leading agricultural commodities in the county are grapes and milk, followed at a distance by almonds, tomatoes, walnuts, apples, and others. The county is increasingly serving as a bedroom community for Bay Area and Silicon Valley workers as a result of its less costly homes.
Stanislaus County	3,870 km2	514,453	130/km2	The county seat is Modesto
Immediately south of San Joaquin County, Stanislaus County is also predominantly farmland (79.4 percent, according to 1992 data), but also has a substantial population of 513,300. Cities in the county are Modesto (201,700), Turlock (49,200), Ceres (31,100), Oakdale (14,300), Riverbank (13,350), Patterson (9,600), Waterford (6,375), Newman (5,750), and Hughson (3,530). The remaining 103,400 residents are in unincorporated areas. The leading industry in the county is food and kindred products, far outdistancing paper and allied products, fabricated metal products, and others. The county's main agricultural products include milk, almonds, chickens, chicken eggs, cattle and calves, turkeys, walnuts, tomatoes, alfalfa, and peaches.
Merced County	5,130 km2	266,353	50/km2	The county seat is Merced
Another predominantly farmland county (79.2 percent of land in farms), Merced County is immediately south of Stanislaus and, like Stanislaus, firmly in the center of the Great Central Valley. The county's population of 266,353 is distributed among several cities: Merced (80,793), Atwater (20,900), Los Banos (20,100), Livingston (10,450), Dos Palos (4,360), and Gustine (4,140). The remaining 77,500 residents are in unincorporated areas. As is so typical in the Central Valley counties, Merced's leading industry is food and kindred products. Chief products include milk (the clear leader), almonds, chickens, cotton, tomatoes, alfalfa hay, cattle, sweet potatoes, turkeys, and eggs. A new University of California campus is being planned for Merced County.
Madera County	5,580 km2	154,865	27/km2	The county seat is Madera
Although Madera County falls in the Central Valley, sandwiched in part between Merced and Fresno, it also reaches east, well into the Sierra National Forest and Yosemite National Park. The county's 154,865 people are distributed among the City of Madera (34,650), City of Chowchilla (6,600), and unincorporated areas (67,600). Leading industries include food and kindred products; stone, clay, and glass products; and industrial machinery and equipment (based on 1992 data). Primary agricultural products include grapes (raisin and wine varieties), almonds, milk, cotton, alfalfa hay, pistachios, cattle and calves, and apples.
Fresno County	15,570 km2	965,974	40/km2	The county seat is Fresno
Large both in land area and population, Fresno County, like Madera, stretches well to the east of the valley and into the Sequoia National Park. About 40 percent of the land in Fresno County, mostly in foothill and mountain areas, is owned by government, predominantly the federal government. (Madera has a comparable percentage, and Tulare an even higher one.) The City of Fresno (400,400) encompasses more than half of the county's 965,974 population. The rest of the county's residents are distributed among 14 other incorporated cities (Clovis, at 65,000, by far the largest of them), and unincorporated areas (174,200). Leading industries include food and kindred products (far in front); industrial machinery and equipment; printing and publishing; and stone, clay, and glass products. Primary agricultural products include cotton, grapes, poultry, tomatoes, milk, head lettuce, almonds, cattle and calves, nectarines, and oranges. (Citrus production has tended in recent decades to move from southern California into the Central Valley, as development in the former has displaced groves.) Fresno is the most productive agricultural county in the state and in the nation.
Kings County	3,610 km2	150,269	42/km2	The county seat is Hanford
Rivaling San Joaquin County in this statistic, Kings County has 87.2 percent of its land area in farms (1992 data). Kings is tucked between Fresno, Tulare, and Kern counties, with a small western border along coastal Monterey County. The county's leading industry is, of course, food and kindred products. The dominant agricultural products are cotton/cottonseed and milk, followed distantly by cattle and calves, turkeys, grapes, peaches, and other products. Kings County's population of 150,269 is distributed among the cities of Hanford (55,283), Lemoore (16,350), Corcoran (14,600), Avenal (12,350), and unincorporated areas (37,050).
Tulare County	12,530 km2	458,198	42/km2	The county seat is Visalia
Tulare County, immediately to the east of Kings, stretches into the Sequoia National Forest and Inyo National Forest. A majority of the county's land area (52 percent, mostly in foothill and mountain areas) is owned by government, predominantly the federal government, the highest percentage among the Central Valley counties. The county's population of 458,198 resides in the cities of Visalia (124,442), Tulare (49,750), Porterville (34,550), Dinuba (14,650), Lindsay (8,825), Exeter (8,275), Farmersville (7,125), and Woodlake (6,125), with the other 140,800 in unincorporated areas. The leading industry is food and kindred products, followed distantly by printing and publishing, lumber and wood products, fabricated metal products, and electronic and other electric equipment (1992 data). Agricultural products include milk, oranges, grapes, cattle and calves, cotton lint and seed, and others. Tulare County is one of the most productive agricultural counties in California, in terms of value of production, second only to Fresno.
Kern County	21,140 km2	874,589	40/km2	The county seat is Bakersfield
At the south end of the Central Valley, Kern County is immediately north of Ventura and Los Angeles counties, and south of Kings and Tulare. Mountain ranges, including the Tehachapi Mountains, mark the southern end of the Central Valley, south and east of Bakersfield. The county's population of 624,700 resides in the City of Bakersfield (312,700) and ten much smaller cities (Delano being the largest, with 31,450 residents), with 280,500 in unincorporated areas. Again, food and kindred products constitute the county's leading industry, followed by chemicals and allied products; rubber and miscellaneous plastics products; and printing and publishing. The county's large and varied agriculture (fourth among California counties) includes grapes, cotton/cottonseed, citrus, almonds, milk, cattle and calves, and others. More than half of the county's land area (54.5 percent) is in farms (1992 data). The county is also known for its oil fields.

Central Valley agriculture

California´s great Central Valley stretches from Shasta County to Kern County--some 450 miles long and typically 40 to 60 miles wide. It encompasses 18 counties with a total of over five million people and over 42,000 square miles--one-sixth of the population and more than two-fifths of the land area of the state.

Not all of the Central Valley is encompassed in these counties. The list omits Solano County (which is south of Yolo and west of Sacramento), although much of Solano's land area falls within the valley geographically. Because Solano touches on the San Francisco Bay, the county is included in the Bay Area, not the Central Valley, for planning and statistical purposes.

Portions of some of the 18 counties fall outside the valley. Some counties reach into the Sierra foothills and beyond, and much of Shasta County is north of the valley. Placer County reaches well into the Sierra, although the county's population is predominantly in the valley and facing issues of growth, development, and conservation typical of Central Valley communities. All in all, these 18 counties are clearly separate from the urban centers of San Francisco, Los Angeles, Riverside-San Bernardino, and San Diego and from the coastal, mountain, and desert regions of the state.

Central Valley

To many urban Californians, the Central Valley is "flyover country," the area one flies over or drives through to reach places of greater interest, or simply a source of agricultural goods as diverse as cotton, tomatoes, and rice--nearly $14 billion worth of production value in 1995--to the extent they think about it at all. To increasing numbers, however, at least parts of the Valley are home, as San Francisco Bay Area workers discover the less costly real estate of Modesto, Ripon, Stockton, and Vacaville.

The Central Valley is indeed centered on agriculture. Eight of California's 15 top producing agricultural counties are in the Central Valley, and of the top seven, only one (Monterey) is not encompassed in the area from San Joaquin to Kern. This area is not only the most productive in California, it is widely considered the most productive in the world. This productivity has not come easily, as it has required the combined efforts of laborers, land-owners, agricultural researchers, hydraulic engineers, and many others over generations. It also reflects a range of growing conditions (soils and local climates) conducive to specific crops.

Central Valley agriculture

 Much of the economic activity of the Central Valley that is not directly agricultural is at least associated with agriculture: packing, shipping, processing, and the myriad specialties needed to support agricultural enterprises, from irrigation systems to pesticide research. Some observers attribute as much as 30 percent of the Central Valley's total economy to agriculture, considering indirect "multiplier" effects. Rapid and accelerating population growth in the Valley, however, does not simply reflect burgeoning agriculture, nor can long-term prosperity rest exclusively on the products of the land.

The Central Valley is a large and diverse area

Although the term "the Central Valley" refers to an area stretching from Shasta to Kern, that area does not constitute a single community in any sense of the term. The length of the valley, about 450 miles, is about the distance from Chicago, Illinois, to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, localities with distinct local identities, media outlets, and labor pools. It would take about 8 hours to drive from Redding, at the north end of the valley, to Bakersfield, at the south end, which suggests that direct interaction across the length of the valley is essentially nonexistent. Even Fresno, in the heart of the valley, is a three to four hour drive from Sacramento and two hours or more from Bakersfield.

Central Valley agriculture

 No print or broadcast media serve the entire valley, or even a preponderance of it. Separate media markets exist for many communities within the Central Valley, including Bakersfield, Fresno, Merced, Modesto, Stockton, Sacramento, Chico, Red Bluff, and Redding. Stockton and Sacramento do share a television market, but have different local newspapers and radio stations. Other cities and towns throughout the valley also have local newspapers and radio stations.

Although agriculture is widespread throughout the valley, crops vary, and there is not even a unified "agricultural community" encompassing the entire area. Instead, there are many agricultural interests with different concerns and whose common concerns (water and environmental issues, for example) are not unique to the valley.

Geographically, the Central Valley may be subdivided into northern and southern portions. The northern part, the Sacramento Valley, encompasses 10 counties, and the southern, or San Joaquin Valley, encompasses eight. Even these two sub-regions are large and internally diverse.

The entire area, as a valley, constitutes a single vast air basin, although specific issues do vary with local terrain, climate, agriculture, population, and industry. For planning purposes, the Central Valley is divided into the Sacramento Valley Air Basin and the San Joaquin Valley Air Basin. Those basins generally correspond to the groups of counties used in this paper.

In terms of watersheds, the Central Valley is encompassed by the Sacramento River watershed, the San Joaquin River watershed, and the Tulare Lake watershed. The Sacramento River watershed stretches from roughly the northeast corner of California to Sacramento County. The San Joaquin Valley watershed encompasses the area from Sacramento County (including the southeast corner of the county itself) to Madera County (and portions of Fresno County). The Tulare Lake watershed includes most of Fresno County, all of Kings and Tulare counties, and all but the eastern fifth or so of Kern County.

agriculture butte county

Butte
In terms of population, Butte County is the largest in the Central Valley north of the Sacramento metropolitan area (although Shasta is only about 30,000 behind). The county's population of 220,000 encompasses several cities. Chico, at 47,200 is the largest, followed by Paradise (25,900), Oroville (12,400), Gridley (4,780), and Biggs (1,640). The majority of the county's population (105,000), however, is in unincorporated areas. The county hosts a campus of California State University at Chico. Leading industries include food and kindred products, lumber and wood products, and printing and publishing. More than two-fifths (43.1%) of the county's land area was in farms as of 1992, with rice and almonds being the leading products, followed by walnuts, prunes, and several other products. The county seat is Oroville but the largest City is Chico. Butte County is known as the "Land of Natural Wealth and Beauty."  In terms of population, Butte County is the largest in the Central Valley north of the Sacramento metropolitan area

Many Butte County residents live in one of the five incorporated towns or cities: Biggs, Chico, Gridley, Oroville or Paradise, but Butte County is a place of natural beauty with countless opportunities for recreation in both rural and urban environments.

Oroville is situated at the base of the foothills on the banks of the Feather River where it flows out of the Sierra Nevada onto the flat floor of the Sacramento Valley. It was established as the head of navigation on the Feather River to supply gold miners during the California Gold Rush.

The Oroville Dam, perhaps Oroville's most famous site, is one of the 20 largest dams in the world

agriculture Colusa county

Colusa
One of California's least populous counties, Colusa County is south of Glenn County and west of Sutter County. The county's population of  21,419 is distributed among the cities of Colusa (5,971), Williams (3,020) and unincorporated areas (9,650). Some 61.1 percent of the county's land area is in farms (1992 data), producing rice, tomatoes, and almonds, followed by wheat, rice seed, and several other products. The western portion of the county is in the Mendocino National Forest. Colusa's population growth rate has been modest since 1940 by comparison with most of the Central Valley, but was more typical during the period 1980-95.

Sutter
B-52 airplane crash
On March 14, 1961, a B-52 Stratton fortress carrying nuclear weapons, flying near Yuba City encountered a pressurization problem, and had to drop to a lower altitude. As such, more fuel than expected was used, and the aircraft ran out of fuel. It crashed before meeting with a tanker aircraft. The pilot gave the bailout command, and the crew aggressed at 10,000 ft, except for the pilot, who ejected at 4,000 ft, while avoiding a populated area. The aircraft was destroyed. The weapons, two Mark 39 (3.8 megatons each) thermonuclear bombs (identified from declassified Department of Energy films and photographs) were destroyed on impact though no explosion took place, and there was no release of radioactive material as a result.

Yuba
North of Placer County and east of Sutter County, Yuba County has a population of 62,200. The county has two cities, Marysville (population 12,550, constrained by the Feather and Yuba rivers) and Wheatland (1,960), with the large majority of the population (47,700) in unincorporated areas, including Olive Hurst and Linda. Yuba County is predominantly agricultural, with nearly three-fifths (58.2 percent) of its land area in farms (1992 data). Leading industries include lumber and wood products as well as food and kindred products. Crops include rice, prunes, walnuts, peaches, cattle and calves, milk, and kiwifruit.

Placer
Geographically, most of Placer County is in the Sierra Nevada mountain range, not in the valley. Most of Placer's population of 206,000, however, is centered in and near Roseville (59,700), north of Sacramento County and of course within the Central Valley. Other cities in the county include Rocklin (26,900), Auburn (11,450), Lincoln (7,950), Loomis (6,025), and Colfax (1,450). The county's population is growing rapidly and its economic base is developing, with emphasis on electronics and other electrical equipment, now the county's leading industry, followed by lumber and wood products. Although about 15 percent of the county's land area is in farms (1992 data), agriculture is of relatively minor importance to the county's economy now.

Sacramento
Sacramento valley / County is unusual in that it is the State Capital, and therefore home to the Legislature, Governor's Office, and a host of departments and agencies. Nearly one-quarter of Sacramento County's employed residents are employed by state and local government (1994 data). The county is also distinctive among Central Valley counties by virtue of its population, which at 1,123,400 makes it the largest in the valley, and its density of population, which at more than 1,200 per square mile far exceeds any other in the valley.
Leading industries in the county include food and kindred products, printing and publishing, electronic and other electric equipment, and fabricated metal products. Despite the county's density of population, a striking 61.3 percent of its land area is in farms (1992 data), producing milk, wine grapes, Bartlett pears, field corn, tomatoes, turkeys, and other products.

The South, or San Joaquin Valley
As above, here are individual county profiles, generally in north to south order.

The City of Bakersfield is about as far from Los Angeles as it is from Fresno, although the trip to Los Angeles goes through mountain ranges and that to Fresno is over flat valley land.