| Alta Vista Open Space | |
|---|---|
| Type | Open-space area |
| Location | 3866 Calle Alta Vista Newbury Park, CA |
| Coordinates | 34°11′15.9″N118°57′30.2″W / 34.187750°N 118.958389°W Coordinates: 34°11′15.9″N118°57′30.2″W / 34.187750°N 118.958389°W |
| Area | 43 acres (17 ha) [1] |
| Operated by | Conejo Open Space Conservation Agency (COSCA) |
| Status | Open |
Alta Vista Open Space is a 43-acre open-space area in western Newbury Park, California, United States, adjacent to Dos Vientos Open Space and its 1,216 acres of natural open space area and numerous trails. [2] Its primary trail is the Ring Finger Trail, which is reached from its trailhead at the southern side of Calle Alta Vis, directly across the street from Calle Las Collinas. [3] Most of the open-space area is owned by the homeowners association, while eleven acres are owned by the Conejo Open Space Conservation Agency (COSCA). [4] [5] Its flora contain large areas covered with chaparral and coastal sage scrub, while some endangered endemic species include Conejo buckwheat, Verity's dudleya, and Conejo dudleya. It functions as a crucial wildlife corridor into the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area through Point Mugu State Park. Some of the fauna here includes Mountain lions, coyotes, mule deer, bobcats, and more. [6]
Newbury Park is a town located mostly within the western Thousand Oaks city limits in Ventura County, California, United States. It makes up all of ZIP code 91320, and is within area code 805. Lying within the Conejo Valley in the northwestern part of the Greater Los Angeles Area, Newbury Park abuts the Santa Monica Mountains. It is approximately 35 miles (56 km) from Downtown Los Angeles and less than 7 mi (11 km) from the Los Angeles County border in Westlake Village. The closest coastal city is Malibu, 22 mi (35 km) from Newbury Park, which may be reached through winding roads or hiking trails crossing the Santa Monica Mountains. About 28,000 of Thousand Oaks' 110,000 residents reside in Newbury Park. Newbury Park makes up around 40 percent of Thousand Oaks' total land area.
Dos Vientos Open Space is a 1,216 acres (492 ha) open space area in western Newbury Park, California. It contains more than 41 miles (66 km) of trails used for cycling, hiking and equestrians. Originally a part of the Rancho Guadalasca Spanish Land Grant of 1836, the area is now an important wildlife movement corridor into the Santa Monica Mountains through the Point Mugu State Park. It provides a habitat for a variety of wildlife, including bobcats, mule deer, coyotes, eagles, hawks, barn owls, mountain lions, and more. It provides regional and internal trail connections, many trails offering panoramic views of the Conejo Valley, Oxnard Plain, Topatopa Mountains, Channel Islands, and the Pacific Ocean. Some of the endangered plant species found here include Conejo buckwheat, Verity's liveforever, and Conejo dudleya. The landscape is undeveloped, and dominated by coastal sage scrub, grassy hillsides, oak woodlands, and chaparral habitats.
Chaparral is a shrubland or heathland plant community found primarily in the US state of California and in the northern portion of the Baja California Peninsula, Mexico. It is shaped by a Mediterranean climate and wildfire, featuring summer-drought-tolerant plants with hard sclerophyllous evergreen leaves, as contrasted with the associated soft-leaved, drought-deciduous, scrub community of coastal sage scrub, found below the chaparral biome. Chaparral covers 5% of the state of California and associated Mediterranean shrubland an additional 3.5%. The name comes from the Spanish word chaparro, for evergreen oak shrubland.
Adjacent to more than 16,000 acres of natural open-space areas, Alta Vista Open Space contains numerous internal and regional trail connections, connecting for instance to the Conejo Mountain, Potrero Ridge Open Space, Los Vientos Open Space, Boney Mountain, Satwiwa (Rancho Sierra Vista), Point Mugu State Park, the Conejo Hills, and the Santa Monica Mountains. [7]
Conejo Mountain is a 1,814-foot-high mountain (553 m) in Ventura County, California near Camarillo on the eastern boundary of the Oxnard Plain. At the western edge of the Conejo Valley, it is adjacent to the Santa Monica Mountains. Crossing what was once a formidable barrier for travelers, U.S. Route 101 passes through the area on the steep Conejo Grade.
The Potrero Ridge Open Space is a passive recreation area in the southwestern portion of Newbury Park, CA and the Conejo Valley that encompasses eastern parts of the Potrero Ridge. The open-space area contains a total of 203 acres (82 ha), and is owned and operated by the Conejo Open Space Conservation Agency (COSCA). It is adjacent to the Dos Vientos Open Space in the west, which provides further access to the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area by Satwiwa, as well as the Alta Vista Open Space, Los Vientos Open Space, and Los Robles Trail which leads to Los Robles Open Space in Thousand Oaks, CA and further into Westlake Village.
Satwiwa was a former Chumash village in the Santa Monica Mountains of Newbury Park, California. The current Satwiwa Native American Indian Culture Center is operated by the National Park Service in cooperation with the Friends of Satwiwa. Satwiwa has been inhabited by Chumash Indians for over 10,000 years. It is situated at the foothills of Boney Mountain, a sacred mountain for the Chumash.
