|
John Cletheroe's
USA and Canada Holiday Hints |
Imperial Valley is one of the most productive agricultural areas of the world and the largest year-round irrigated agricultural area in North America. "Magickman" who lives in Imperial Valley kindly wrote to tell me that it is the seventh largest food producing area in the world. Microsoft's Encarta CD-ROM encyclopedia says that crops grown in Imperial Valley include melons, citrus and other fruits, lettuce and other vegetable, alfalfa, barley and cotton but on the other hand Magickman says that that it is purely a crop growing area and most definitely not a fruit growing area. Matthew Brown of the US Department of Agriculture in Brawley (in the Imperial Valley) kindly wrote to me saying:
The Imperial Valley does produce a limited amount of citrus though its major crops are vegetable, wheat and alfalfa roughly speaking. There is a grower here who is producing kiwi and mango, I believe it is, in what began as an experimental operation that has turned out rather well according to an article I read in the newspaper. In the past there were many more citrus orchards here in the valley including tangerine, orange and grapefruit. Such orchards still exist around the valley though how many are utilized for commercial production is most likely limited.
You may be interested to know that practically any vegetation in the world can be grown in the Imperial Valley at some time in the year. That of course doesn't mean that they will survive the summer though, or perhaps the pests. The soil varies here from rather sandy (good drainage) to heavy clay (poor drainage, not good for citrus).I am very grateful to Magickman who tells me that Imperial Valley is famous for its spectacular sunsets. He writes:
The sky turns pink and purple with designs flowing through it so amazing. I have been all around the world and the only time I have seen a better sky was the Northern Lights in Alaska.Magickman also points out that it is normally very pleasantly warm in the winter in Imperial Valley.
Matthew Brown kindly contributed this description of the sand dunes in Imperial County:
The Imperial Valley was once connected to the Sea of Cortez (Gulf of California) and fossils of ancient marine life may be found in abundance if you know where to look. Eventually the valley became isolated from the gulf and existed as an inland sea for centuries. Near the edge of the Salton Sea you may still see the marks of an ancient waterline on the rocky cliffs. The sand dunes stretching along the eastern edge of our county are the remnants of this long forgotten shoreline. They now support a very different kind of wildlife. Thousands of desert and offroad enthusiasts come from Arizona and the California coast to play in our big "sand box". Glamis [east of Brawley - JC] is known (unofficially of course) as the Sand Toy Capital of the World. On Thanksgiving weekend the population here will increase by as many as 60,000 people who have come to ride their three-wheelers, quads, motorcycles, sandbugs, 4x4s, etc. in the Imperial Dunes. During any other weekend or holiday throughout the cooler months we will have a number of visitors "riding the dunes". The weather here is downright gorgeous any time of year other than the summer months... we are a desert after all. It is an amazing sight to behold... thousands of people and their machines racing and crawling around the desert in what I consider to be "one hell of a raging party!"I wrote back to Matthew expressing concern over possible damage to the desert vegetation that these activities might be causing and he wrote back:
Concerning the off-road situation, John, there are specific areas set aside for recreation and areas for conservation. The vast majority of off-roaders are respectful of the limits and boundaries. Politicians love to use purported environmental concern for their own political agendas, especially when it only affects areas of smaller populations (less voters) to offend. "Let's save the desert they say!", from many miles away, without any real clue as to what is going on here. Of course there is a large contingent of people besides those citizens of our own valley who love and enjoy the desert as much as we do thank God. By the way our military has been bombing the hell out of this "fragile" desert for decades. I ask that you keep your mind open to the notion of "self-serving" politics on the part of conservationists and politicians who don't live anywhere near the area of "concern". This reminds me of the Salton Sea and our polluted New and Alamo rivers. Are you familiar with the situation of these bodies of water? Where was the concern all these years? Why did it take the death of Congressman Sonny Bono to get some quick action moving on these issues? I love this land, and I can assure you that it is in far less danger than so many other areas which are popular with the hordes of city and coastal people. I would be more concerned with the coastal beaches and the mountains than the desert. I like to visit those areas and I'm sorry to say that I observe far more evidence of human presence there than here. The desert is not for everyone. It will never equal the ocean or mountains when it comes to tourism. The draw is more specialised, more unique. It's almost as if it takes a special breed of people to understand the beauty of this land. Those are good people as far I'm concerned and they are welcome to visit.
Home | States/Provinces | Subjects
Most recently modified 8-Sep-99