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A truck passes eastbound along the busy Highway 58 through the Antelope Valley. The Tehachapi Mountains are visible in the distance.
This article is about the Los Angeles County region. For the census-designated place in Wyoming, see Antelope Valley-Crestview, Wyoming.

The Antelope Valley in California, United States is located in northern Los Angeles County and the southeastern portion of Kern County, California. The principal cities in the Antelope Valley are Lancaster and Palmdale.

Contents

Geography

Shaped like a sideways letter "V", the Antelope Valley comprises the western tip of the Mojave Desert, opening up to the Victor Valley and the Great Basin to the east. Lying north of the San Gabriel Mountains and southeast of the Tehachapis, this desert ecosystem spans approximately 2,200 square miles (5,700 km²). Precipitation in the surrounding mountain ranges contributes to groundwater recharge.

Flora and Fauna

The Antelope Valley is home to a wide range of plants and animals, all of which are adapted to the area's climate. It is home to hundreds of plants like the Joshua Tree, Scrub Oak, Creosote, and the California Poppy. Winter brings much needed rain which slowly penetrates the areas dry ground, bringing up native grasses and wildflowers. Poppy season depends completely on the precipitation, but a good bloom can be killed off by the unusual weather in the late winter and early spring months. Snow is not unusual for the Antelope Valley in spring, because it is often the most unstable weather the Valley receives. The Antelope Valley gets its name from its history of Pronghorn grazing in large numbers. Once abundant, they died off or migrated into the Central Valley. A drought in the early 1900's caused a scarcity in bunch grass, their main food source. Now the sighting of a Pronghorn is rare, they are still a small number in the Valley. Black bear are resident with sightings as recent as July 17, 2008, they like to hide in hills behind the towns and often are only in the valley for foraging or resting in caves. When they come into towns they are sometimes tranquilized and relocated but often just outside of town. Bobcats and Coyotes are very common. Coyotes often howl or cry at night or day during spring, summer, and fall months. Tortoises are not rare but often hidden in burrows to escape the desert heat.

Water issues

Human water use in the Antelope Valley depends mainly on pumping of groundwater from the valley's aquifers and on importing of additional water through aqueducts. Long-term groundwater pumping has lowered the water table, thereby increasing pumping lifts, reducing well efficiency, and causing land subsidence. 1 While aqueducts supply additional water to meet increasing human demand for agricultural, industrial, and domestic uses, diversion of water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta in Northern California has adverse environmental and social effects. "Over decades, [the] competing uses for water supply and habitat have jeopardized the Delta’s ability to meet either need. All stakeholders agree the estuary is in trouble and requires long-term solutions to ensure reliable, quality water supplies and a healthy ecosystem". 2

Antelope Valley's rapid human population growth and development place considerable stress on the local and regional water systems. According to David Leighton of the United States Geological Survey (USGS), "A deliberate management effort will be required to meet future water demand in the Antelope Valley without incurring significant economic and environmental costs associated with overuse of the ground-water resource".3

Human history

The first peoples of the Antelope Valley include the Kawaiisu[1], Kitanemuk, Serrano, and Tataviam. The valley was first entered by Europeans in the 1770s, during colonization of North America. Father Francisco Garces, a Spanish Franciscan friar, is believed to have traveled the west end of the valley in 1776. By 1808, the invaders forced native peoples out of the valley and into missions [2].

Jedediah Smith came through in 1827, and John C. Fremont made a scientific observation of the valley in 1844 along with his other California explorations.

Stagecoach lines came through the valley along its foothills after Fremont's visit and were the preferred way of travel for colonists before the coming of the Southern Pacific railroad in 1876. The rail service linking the valley to the Central Valley and Los Angeles started the first large influx of white settlers to the valley, and farms and towns soon sprouted on the valley floor.

The aircraft (now referred to as aerospace) industry took hold in the valley at Plant 42 in 1952. Edwards AFB, then called Muroc Army Air Field, was established in 1933.

Panoramic of Lancaster, CA.

Demographics

In recent decades the valley has become a bedroom communitycitation needed, to the Greater Los Angeles area. Major housing tract development and population growth took off beginning in 1983, which has increased the population of Palmdale around 12 times its former size as of 2006. Neighboring Lancaster has increased its population since the early 1980s to around 3 times its former level. Major retail has followed the population influx, centered around Palmdale's Antelope Valley Mall. The Antelope Valley is home to 475,000, and is expected to reach 1,000,000 people by the year 2020.citation needed

Whites make up approximately 48% of the population of the Antelope Valley and the majority in most of its cities and towns. Hispanics are the next largest group, followed by African Americans and Asian Americans.

Military base

Discovery (STS-114) touches down in the Antelope Valley (Edwards Air Force Base), (August 9, 2005)

Edwards Air Force Base lies east of Rosamond, 37 miles (60 km) northeast of Palmdale. Edwards AFB's dry lakebeds are the lowest geographic elevation in the valley. Significant amounts of U.S. military flight testing is performed there, and it has been the site of many important aeronatical accomplishments, including the first flight to break the sound barrier. NASA space shuttles originally landed at Edwards because the lake beds offer a vast landing area. NASA has since built a huge landing strip at Kennedy Space Center, and Edwards remains the backup in case of bad weather at Cape Canaveral.

NASA Hugh L. Dryden Flight Research Center is a tenant organization at Edwards AFB. The Center is best known for the X-15 experimental rocket ship program. It has been the home of NASA's high performance aircraft research since it was founded for the X-1 program. The Orbiter is serviced there when it lands at Edwards.

Industry

Aerospace

U. S. Air Force Plant 42 in northeast Palmdale is home to Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, and BAE Systems, among other aerospace-related companies. Notable projects assembled and/or designed there include the space shuttle, B-2 Spirit bomber, F-117 Nighthawk fighter, F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, and the Lockheed L-1011 Tristar, a passenger jet aircraft.

The newly dedicated Mojave Spaceport is also located in this region. The spaceport is famous as the base of operations for Scaled Composites, the company that designed SpaceShipOne and won the X-Prize.

Much of the work done at these facilities is performed in coordination with Edwards Air Force Base and the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center (see above), from the creation and testing of proof-of-concept X-planes, to Space Shuttle operations, to the manufacturing and integration and testing of new military aviation equipment.

Agriculture

Antelope Valley in spring covered by a carpet of goldfields Lasthenia californica.

The valley's first main industry as a part of the United States was agriculture. Historically known regionally for its extensive alfalfa fields and fruit crops, farmers now are growing a wider variety of crops, such as carrots, onions, lettuce, and potatoes. As housing tracts continue to build in the middle of the valley, the farm operations are now found farther to the west and east sides than in previous decades.

Mining

The second largest Borax open pit mine in the world is located near Boron. Public touring is available.

Manufacturing

  • U.S. Pole Company Inc.
  • Senior Systems Technology
  • Delta Scientific
  • Lance Camper Manufacturing Corporation

Education

Colleges & universities

  • The Antelope Valley Community College District is the local public college system that covers the area with a primary service area of 1,945 square miles covering portions of Los Angeles and Kern counties. Instruction is offered at multiple sites, including Palmdale and Lancaster, as well as through online and instructional television courses. It has 2 campuses. The main one, Antelope Valley College is a comprehensive community college located in Lancaster. The college offers Associate in Arts/Associate in Science (two-year) degrees in 67 fields, as well as certificate programs in 56 vocational areas. It also hosts a satellite location of California State University, Bakersfield-Antelope Valley, where students can obtain bachelor's and master's degrees. Enrollment for the 2007-2008 academic year exceeds 14,000. The second campus is a satellite campus in Palmdale with an enrollment of just over 500.
  • West Coast Baptist College in Lancaster, is an unaccredited Independent Fundamental Baptist Bible college offering graduate and undergraduate degrees in Pastoral studies, evangelism, missions, church ministries, music, Christian education, youth ministry, and secretarial studies. West Coast opened in 1995, and now has about 850 students.
  • The Lancaster University Center in Lancaster provides local students education in engineering and technology. The $3.5 million reconstruction of Challenger Hall, located at the old Antelope Valley Fairgrounds, gave the new campus 13 classrooms, 2 of which are high tech distance learning rooms and 2 of which are lab classrooms, as well as office space. The school was created through partnerships with California State University, Bakersfield, California State University, Fresno, and local aerospace companies.

High school

There are also several private and home school high schools in the area, most notably:

School districts

  • The Palmdale School District is the area's largest school district, with an enrollment of over 28,000 in 29 schools. The district covers the central portion of the city.
  • The Lancaster School District is the area's third largest school district after Palmdale and the A.V. High School District. This school district covers most of central and part of eastern Lancaster with 15,000 students in 19 schools.

Culture

The Antelope Valley Symphony Orchestra is a professional ensemble that performs four concerts each year at the Lancaster Performing Arts Center. It is an auxiliary of Antelope Valley College, and performs regularly with the Antelope Valley College Civic Orchestra.

Paranormal Phenomena and Urban Legends

Reports of unexplained paranormal occurrences in this area abound since its early history. One of the Antelope Valley's most prominent local legends is the Elizabeth Lake Monster. 4
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