Opinion: Southern California’s historic rivers offer wildlife habitat, recreation
The rivers in Southern California are an enigma, and by some observer’s standards, their meager, seasonal flows wouldn’t even qualify as a “real river.” But few places in the world have captured, managed, channeled, and fought over their water resources with more necessity and ingenuity than the cities of Southern California. Southern California rivers are unique for several reasons; they are short by normal standards, their flows are comparatively low, their origins can reach lofty alpine elevations over 9,000 feet, and the area they collect their water from, or “watershed,” is small in comparison to other major rivers. As an example, the Sacramento River in Northern California is four times longer and has a watershed 10 times larger than the Santa Ana River, which is the largest river in Southern California.
-Written by freelance writer Mark Landis.Related article:
