Indio Hills Palms
Indio Hills Palms State Reserve and the Coachella Valley Preserve, located in the Indio Hills, contain the 1,000 Palms Oasis, and are a protected area in the Coachella Valley, located east of Palm Springs near Palm Desert, California. The Coachella Valley National Wildlife Refuge is contained within the Coachella Valley Preserve, and all are in the Colorado Desert section of the Sonoran Desert, and adjacent to the Lower Colorado River Valley region.
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[edit] California Fan Palm oasis
The Indio Hills Palms State Reserve is managed by the California Department of Parks and Recreation. The Coachella Valley Preserve, a 2,206-acre (8.93 km²) area, is maintained by the non-profit Nature Conservancy, is one of the few in the desert with natural springs feeding oasis that support the only California native palm, the Washingtonia filifera or California Fan Palm. The San Andreas Fault, visible from the valley floor as a line of greenery along the base of the hills, captures groundwater that nurtures the palms. The 1,000 Palms Oasis grove is easily reached by foot from the trailhead. [1]
[edit] Desert pupfish
Naturally occurring artesian ponds provide habitat for the Desert pupfish, a small, endangered species of freshwater fish - roughly the size of a young goldfish. These ponds are part of the self-guided tour among the California Fan Palm groves.
[edit] Coachella Valley Fringe-toed Lizard
The Coachella Valley National Wildlife Refuge is a restricted access habitat for the Coachella Valley Fringe-toed Lizard, listed as an endangered species in California, a threatened species in the United States and the IUCN classifies it as endangered.
[edit] See also
- Category:Geography of the Colorado Desert
- Category:Fauna of the Colorado Desert
- List of Sonoran Desert wildflowers
[edit] References
- ^ http://coachellavalleypreserve.org/fanpalm.html . accessed 6/20/2010
[edit] External links
- Official Coachella Valley Preserve website
- Coachella Valley Preserve: McCallum trail hiking
- 1,000 Palms Oasis historical photographs
- 1,000 Palms Oasis birds checklist
- Indio Hills Palms State Park
- Coachella Valley National Wildlife Refuge
- Coachella Valley National Wildlife Refuge Map
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