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Central California Valley

Ecoregion in Central Valley, CA

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Flat, intensively farmed plains with long, hot dry summers and mild winters distinguish the Central California Valley from its neighboring ecoregions that are either hilly or mountainous, forest or shrub covered, and generally nonagricultural. It includes the flat valley basins of deep sediments adjacent to the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers, as well as the fans and terraces around the edge of the valley. The two major rivers flow from opposite ends of the Central Valley, flowing into the Delta and into San Pablo Bay. It once contained extensive prairies, oak savannas, desert grasslands in the south, riparian woodlands, freshwater marshes, and vernal pools. More than half of the region is now in cropland, about three fourths of which is irrigated. Environmental concerns in the region include salinity due to evaporation of irrigation water, groundwater contamination from heavy use of agricultural chemicals, wildlife habitat loss, and urban sprawl.

— EPA

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