8 - The Desert Region

Abstract

This chapter discusses the desert region of California. The deserts of southeastern California lie to the east of the Sierra Nevada, Transverse, and Peninsular ranges. These ranges block the eastward movement of the moist Pacific air mass, creating the characteristic arid conditions of the deserts. The Mojave Desert lies at the heart of this region, between the Great Basin deserts on the north and the Colorado Desert on the south. The California deserts are arid, with the average annual rainfall varying with elevation and other factors. The vegetation of the California deserts reflects the arid environment, and the variations in rainfall and temperature result in regional differences in vegetation and rather distinctive plant communities. The creosote bush is the dominant plant type throughout the Colorado and Mojave deserts and forms uniformly monotonous cover over vast areas of mountain slopes and valleys. In desert valleys, the creosote bush community surrounds riparian plant communities located where water is locally abundant. Throughout the California deserts, large game animals are not plentiful and in most places are quite rare. The major large game animals hunted by Indians were most often mountain sheep, deer, and pronghorn. Jackrabbits and desert cottontail were commonly taken as were wood rat and various small rodents, lizards, and desert tortoise.