Syndication News Column:
California

California is known for many things, including the majesty of Yosemite National Park.  According to the National Park Service, this national park was initially protected in 1864.

“The expansive park’s…1,169 square miles, nearly 95 percent of which are designated Wilderness, are home to hundreds of wildlife species, and [more than] a thousand plant species,” according the National Park Service.  “Yosemite supports more than 400 species of vertebrates, including fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals.”

The photo above, provided courtesy of the National Park Service, shows the “Yosemite Falls and Merced River Cook's Meadow in early May.”  You can view a live webcam of Yosemite Falls by clicking here.

The National Park Service reported that Yosemite National Park is one of 28 national parks in the State of California. Two of these national parks show the breadth of diversity within the state - Death Valley and Redwood National Parks.

Death Valley National Park is described by the National Park Service as “famous as the hottest place on earth and driest place in North America. The world record highest air temperature of 134°F (57°C) was recorded at Furnace Creek on July 10, 1913.”

Redwood National Park, a sanctuary for the tallest trees in the world, wasn’t created until 1968. “By the 1960s, logging had consumed nearly 90 percent of all the original redwoods,” stated the National Park Service. When created, “Redwood National Park…secured some of the few remaining stands of uncut redwoods. In 1978, Congress added more land that included logged-over portions of Redwood Creek.” To give a perspective on the size of the redwood trees, the National Park Service stated that a California coast redwood “may grow to a height of 367 feet (112 meters) and have a width of 22 feet (7 meters) at its base. Imagine a 35-story skyscraper in your city and you have an inkling of the trees' ability to arouse humility.”

Within a few hours of the natural beauty of Yosemite is an urban metropolis built in California by man – the City of San Francisco.  A panorama view of the city in 2018 is seen in the photo above, provided courtesy of Mitul Shah from Burst.

According to the United States Census Bureau, 883,305 were estimated to be living in San Francisco as of July 1, 2018. More than 35% of the residents are Asian-American stated the Census Bureau; nationally, Asian-Americans represent almost 6% of the population of the United States. San Francisco is a major employment center in California with almost 628,000 people working in the city as of 2016, according to the Census Bureau.

San Francisco includes a number of neighborhoods with distinctive aspects. For example, the San Francisco Travel Association notes that you can find “sea lions basking in the sun” in the Fisherman's Wharf neighborhood, that '“Chinatown is the oldest and one of the largest in the United States”, and the Mission District was “named for Mission Dolores founded in 1776 [and is] San Francisco’s oldest neighborhood.”

© 2019 Richard McDonough