Oxnard Plain

Oxnard Plain
Region
Relief map of Southern California
Map

The Oxnard Plain is a large coastal plain in southwest Ventura County, California, United States surrounded by the mountains of the Transverse Ranges. The cities of Oxnard, Camarillo, Port Hueneme and much of Ventura as well as the unincorporated communities of Hollywood Beach, El Rio, Saticoy, Silver Strand Beach, and Somis lie within the over 200-square-mile alluvial plain (520 km2). The population within the plain comprises a majority of the western half of the Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura Metro Area and includes the largest city along the Central Coast of California. The 16.5-mile-long coastline (26.6 km) is among the longest stretches of continuous, linear beaches in the state.

The high quality soils, adequate water supply, favorable climate, long growing season, and level topography are characteristic of the Oxnard Plain where the top cash crops are strawberries, raspberries, nursery stock and celery.[1][2][3][4] Ventura County is one of the principal agricultural counties in the state and it is a significant component of the economy with a total annual crop value in the county of over $1.8 billion in 2014. There is strong public sentiment for retaining agricultural production, as reflected in the SOAR (Save Open Space and Agricultural Resources) initiatives that have been approved by voters.[5]

This plain has been formed chiefly by the deposition of sediments from the Santa Clara River and Calleguas Creek.[6] This plain contained a series of marshes, salt flats, sloughs, and lagoons prior to the expansion of agriculture. The Santa Clara River is one of the largest river systems along the coast of Southern California and only one of two remaining river systems in the region that remain in their natural states.[7] The Oxnard Plain faces the Santa Barbara Channel portion of the Southern California Bight, extending from the abrupt transition of the steep rocky shore at Point Mugu in the Santa Monica Mountains on the south to the Ventura River on the north.[8] Prominent on the southeastern horizon are Conejo Mountain and Boney Peak.

The Oxnard Plain contains a considerable petroleum reserve with several active oil fields – the Oxnard Oil Field, east of Oxnard, the West Montalvo Oil Field, along the coast south of the outlet of the Santa Clara River, and the Santa Clara Avenue Oil Field north of U.S. Highway 101 near El Rio. There are also several smaller abandoned oil fields. Oil facilities are interspersed with agricultural land uses both east and west of Oxnard.[9]

Oxnard, Ventura, Santa Paula, and Camarillo, Oxnard Plain, California
  1. ^ Varian, Ethan (May 22, 2019). "How celery became the unlikely star of the produce aisle". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on June 6, 2019. Retrieved June 6, 2019.
  2. ^ Harris, Mike (June 14, 2016). "Oxnard's Mandalay Berry Farms closing; 565 employees losing jobs". Ventura County Star. Archived from the original on June 15, 2016. Retrieved June 15, 2016.
  3. ^ Mohan, Geoffrey (May 25, 2017). "To keep crops from rotting in the field, farmers say they need Trump to let in more temporary workers". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on May 26, 2017. Retrieved May 27, 2017. Consumer tastes for fresh strawberries and leaf lettuce — two of the state's most stubbornly labor-intensive crops — have driven the boom along a coastal corridor from the Salinas Valley in Monterey County through the Oxnard Plain in Ventura County, according to the Times analysis.
  4. ^ Esquivel, Paloma (May 28, 2012). "Epithet that divides Mexicans is banned by Oxnard school district". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on June 1, 2019. Retrieved June 1, 2019.
  5. ^ "Crop Report 2012" Archived 2014-11-12 at the Wayback Machine Ventura County Agricultural Commissioner
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference Thomas was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference Hapke was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ "SUBSEQUENT ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT REPORT FOR FOCUSED GENERAL PLAN UPDATE and Related Amendments to the Non-Coastal Zoning Ordinance and Zone Change ZN05-0008" Archived 2017-08-13 at the Wayback Machine County of Ventura (June 22, 2005)
  9. ^ Wilson, Kathleen (April 25, 2019). "45-day moratorium on drilling of certain oil wells passes". Ventura County Star. Archived from the original on April 24, 2019. Retrieved April 25, 2019.