PARKLAND PRESERVES NATURAL BEAUTY.Byline: Romy Jacobson Daily News Staff Writer Ever wondered what the Antelope Valley This article is about the Los Angeles County region. For the census-designated place in Wyoming, see Antelope Valley-Crestview, Wyoming. The Antelope Valley might have looked like 100 years ago - before housing tracts and the freeway? Nostalgia seekers and nature enthusiasts have the opportunity to take a journey back in time at the Arthur B. Ripley Desert Woodland State Park The Arthur B. Ripley Desert Woodland State Park is a California state park on the rural westside of the Antelope Valley in northern Los Angeles County, 20 miles west of downtown Lancaster and about 5 miles from the Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve. , 15 miles northwest of Lancaster. The 566-acre park, about five miles northwest of the Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve The Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve is a California wildlife reserve located in the rural westside of the Antelope Valley in northern Los Angeles County. Constitutionally, it is a state park. Its namesake is the state flower, the California Poppy. , was named after pioneer Ripley by a unanimous vote. The property was willed to the state for use as a public park by the Lancaster wheat farmer, who died in 1988 at age 87. Ripley bought the acreage during the 1930s. He appreciated the desert woodland on the property and farmed only the southeast portion, leaving the remainder relatively untouched. ``This is a natural state for the most part,'' said park ranger A park ranger is a person charged with protecting and preserving protected parklands, forests (then called a forest ranger), wilderness areas, as well as other natural resources and protected cultural resources. Bob McAdams, while looking at the juniper and Joshua trees. ``You're looking out there as it looked probably 100 years ago.'' The park acquisition is the largest in the Antelope Valley since the creation of the 1,752-acre Poppy Reserve and the 2,955-acre Saddleback Butte State Park Saddleback Butte State Park is a state park located in southern California's Antelope Valley. The prominent feature of this park is Saddleback Butte, a butte that measures 3,651 feet (1,113 m) high. The park covers about 2,955 acres (11. in the 1960s. Mojave Desert Mojave or Mohave Desert, c.15,000 sq mi (38,850 sq km), region of low, barren mountains and flat valleys, 2,000 to 5,000 ft (610–1,524 m) high, S Calif.; part of the Great Basin of the United States. Sector Resource Ecologist John Crossman has been working to revegetate re·veg·e·tate v. re·veg·e·tat·ed, re·veg·e·tat·ing, re·veg·e·tates v.tr. To cause (eroded land, for example) to bear a new cover of vegetation. v.intr. the remaining property. Hundreds of Joshuas and junipers have already been replanted. A fence was put up around the area in 1995. Access to the area is from pedestrian gates and locked vehicle gates along Lancaster Road and along the boundaries. The main visitor access points are at a signed entrance along Lancaster Road and at a fishing access area along the California Aqueduct. Visitors are welcome to take walks along the nature trails but are asked to stay on the trails due to the fragility of the revegetated areas. Future plans for the area may include a picnic area and possibly a camping area. ``It's a unique desert woodland. There's not many of these left,'' McAdams said. ``It's a good thing for people to come out and take a walk on the trail.'' CAPTION(S): Photo PHOTO (Color) (Color ran in AV Edition only) The Ripley Desert Woodland State Park preserves an expanse of juniper and Joshua trees, showing what the Antelope Valley looks like in its natural state.Gene Blevins/Special to the Daily News |
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