Masters Thesis

Historical geography of land use in the lower Sacramento Valley, California

This thesis examines the lower Sacramento Valley in northern California. In this structural basin, streams emerging from surrounding ranges have deposited their channels above the basin's floor. Patterns of land use in the valley have persisted across disparate cultures and sweeping changes in technology. Well-drained levees adjacent to stream channels are used intensively, both for food production and settlement. Terraces and plains sloping down from the surrounding ranges are used extensively. Poorly drained basins between the levees and plains are used opportunistically. Relative intensity of land use has remained constant, from reconstruction of Native American patterns, through initial Mexican and American settlement, modern commercial agriculture, and recent urbanization. The nineteenth-century Wheat Boom, an attempt to use the valley as a homogeneous production input, only revealed the manifold qualities of the land mosaic. Some hydrogeological functions in the valley have been interrupted by historical practices (especially hydraulic mining) and modern land uses, while other functions persist, incorporated into valley flood control projects and agriculture. Demand for the water flowing through the valley has increased. Recent bond measures and federal appropriations have amassed huge sums to address valley water problems. This provides a rare opportunity to combine the improvement of water delivery and control infrastructure with the restoration of hydrogeological and ecological functions. If decision makers wish to use available funds with maximum efficiency and consensus, they should plan to accommodate the Sacramento Valley's persistent patterns of land use.

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