| Verdugo Mountains | |
|---|---|
| Verdugos | |
 Verdugo Mountains, south view | |
| Highest point | |
| Peak | Verdugo Peak |
| Elevation | 3,126 ft (953 m) |
| Geography | |
  Verdugo Mountains location of Verdugo Mountains inCalifornia[1] | |
| Country | United States |
| State | California |
| District | Los Angeles County |
| Range coordinates | 34°13′N118°17′W / 34.217°N 118.283°W /34.217; -118.283 |
| Parent range | Transverse Ranges |
| Topo map | USGS Burbank |
TheVerdugo Mountains, also known as theVerdugo Hills or simplyThe Verdugos,[2] are a small, ruggedmountain range of theTransverse Ranges system inLos Angeles County, California. Located just south of the westernSan Gabriel Mountains, the Verdugo Mountains region incorporates the cities ofBurbank,Glendale,Pasadena, andLa Cañada Flintridge; the unincorporated communities ofAltadena andLa Crescenta-Montrose; as well as theCity of Los Angeles neighborhood ofSunland-Tujunga.[3] It is where the borders of theSan Gabriel Valley and theSan Fernando Valley meet.
Surrounded entirely by urban development, the Verdugo Mountains represent an isolated wildlife island and are in large part under public ownership in the form of undeveloped parkland. The mountains are used primarily for recreation in the form of hiking and mountain biking, and as the site of communications installations on the highest peaks.
The mountains arise directly from the eastern floor of theSan Fernando Valley, exaggerating their height from some vantages. Beginning with foothills, they rapidly rise to rugged sections, with the highest peaks topping 3,000 feet (910 m).
The northwest-trending range is approximately 8 miles (13 km) long by 3.25 miles (5.23 km) wide, and roughly parallels the southern front of theSan Gabriel Mountains at a distance of 1 mile (1.6 km) to 2 miles (3.2 km), with theCrescenta Valley lying between the two. The southern front of the range forms part of the northeastern boundary of theSan Fernando Valley; at their southeastern end the Verdugo Mountains are separated from theSan Rafael Hills by theVerdugo Wash.
The highest summit is the informally named Verdugo Peak (3,126 feet (953 m)), located near the center of the range and rising to approximately 2,200 feet (670 m) above its southern base. Other peaks include Tongva Peak (2,656feet), recently named in honor of theTongva (Gabrielino) people, the original inhabitants of much of theLos Angeles Basin,Santa Monica Mountains, andSan Gabriel Valley areas. Other informally named peaks are Mount La Tuna on the north end and Mount Thom on the south end of the range. With the exception of Mount La Tuna, all these summits, as well as several others, are occupied by communications towers.
The Verdugo Mountains lie within the corporate boundaries of the cities ofGlendale,Burbank, andLos Angeles. The neighborhood ofLa Crescenta, most of which lies within Glendale, is adjacent to the range's northern end, as are the Los Angeles neighborhoods ofTujunga, Sunland,Shadow Hills, andSun Valley (the last of which includes La Tuna Canyon).
The Verdugo Mountains consist of an east-west-trending antiformalfault block, bounded on the south by the Verdugo Fault, a north-dippingreverse fault, and on the north by the Sierra Madrethrust fault near the front of the San Gabriel Mountains,[4] thus including the sediment-covered Crescenta Valley within the Verdugo Mountains Block. The Verdugo Fault lies slightly south of the topographic range front and is completely covered by sediments.[4]
The rocks within the Verdugo Mountains block are almost entirely igneous and metamorphic similar to the crystalline basement rocks exposed to the north in that portion of the San Gabriel Mountains south of the San Gabriel Fault. These consist ofgneiss, and gneissicdiorite andquartz diorite, intruded by irregular bodies of equigranular granitic rocks, predominantly quartz diorite andgranodiorite, with accompanyingpegmatite andaplite.[5] Exposed rocks in theShadow Hills neighborhood at the extreme northwestern end of the Verdugos are typically marinesedimentary rocks ofMiocene age, predominantlysandstone andshale.
The Verdugo Mountains are part of the westernTransverse Ranges, which have risen in the last 7 million years[citation needed] as the result of contractional deformation resulting from transpressional motion and rotation of crustal blocks in the "Big Bend" region of theSan Andreas Fault.[6][7] The amount of crustal shortening since the beginning of thePliocene has been estimated to be on the order of 7 kilometers (4.3 mi). The Verdugo fault and Sierra Madre thrust are part of a complex system of faults that accommodate some of this shortening and generally become younger to the south, with the Verdugo Fault possibly being the youngest member of this system and forming the current boundary between this portion of the western Transverse Ranges and the Los Angeles basin.[8] Uplift along the Verdugo fault may total approximately 2.5 km (1.6 mi), at a minimum rate of 1.1 km (0.68 mi) per million years since 2.3 million years ago,[9] moving the crystalline rocks of the Verdugo Mountains up and over youngerTertiary andQuaternary sediments to the south. The Verdugo Mountains are, therefore, young and rapidly rising, reflected in their steep topography and rapid rates of erosion.
Source:[10]
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The Verdugo Mountains lie almost entirely within thechaparral plant community, as defined by Munz[12] and later authors, including Sawyeret al.[13] This dense, shrub-dominated community of theCalifornia chaparral and woodlands is more highly developed on the north-facing slopes than on the drier, hotter south-facing slopes. Among the shrub species that characterize this community, prominent in the Verdugos are laurel sumac (Malosma laurina), toyon (Heteromeles arbutifolia), poison oak (Toxicodendron diversilobum), chamise (Adenostoma fasciculatum) and two species of California-lilac (Ceanothus crassifolius andCeanothus oliganthus). Native trees are restricted to protected canyons, especially on the shadier north slope of the range, where soil moisture levels are higher. Coast live oak (Quercus agrifolia), California bay laurel (Umbellularia californica), California sycamore (Platanus racemosa), California walnut (Juglans californica), and several species of willow (Salix spp.) are the most common native trees. Non-native trees, particularly pines (Pinus spp.), cypress (Cupressus spp.), locust (Robinia pseudoacacia), and Australian eucalyptus (Eucalyptus spp.) have been planted locally along the fire roads and, most notably, in the Fire Warden's Grove, established in the wake of awildfire in 1927.
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Except for a tenuous link to the large wild area in theSan Gabriel Mountains throughBig Tujunga Wash at their northwestern end, the Verdugo Mountains are an urban wildlife island completely surrounded by development. Among the large mammals, coyote (Canis latrans) and mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) are the most common; mountain lions (Puma concolor) and black bears (Ursus americanus) have occasionally been reported.[14][15] The many rodent species support a population of western rattlesnakes (Crotalus viridis). Of the numerous bird species present, the most characteristic of the chaparral here, and throughout California, is the small, seldom seen but often heard wrentit (Chamaea fasciata).[16] With its call of three or four chirps followed by an accelerating trill, often likened to the sound of a dropped ping-pong ball, the wrentit provides the most characteristic sound of the chaparral.
The Verdugo Mountains have warm, dry summers and cool wet winters. Snow infrequently falls along the crest during the coldest winter storms, but melts rapidly. Annual average precipitation increases with elevation (due to theorographic lift effect), from 17–21 inches at the base to about 24–28 inches at the crest. Annual rainfall totals are highly variable from year to year, with the higher totals usually inEl Nino years. Most of the rain falls between November and March during periodic frontal passages.
The mountains were part of the indigenousTongva people's homelands for over 7,000 years, with villages at somesprings in the canyons.[17] The village ofWikangna was located in the area, possibly located at what is now the Verdugo Hills Golf Course.[18][19]
The Verdugo Mountains were named forJose Maria Verdugo, holder of theRancho San Rafaelland grant, which covered the mountains during California'sSpanish and Mexican periods. On October 20, 1784Pedro Fages, the military governor ofAlta California, granted Jose Maria Verdugo permission to use the rancho, known officially by the name San Rafael but informally called "La Zanja" by Verdugo.[20] The rancho's boundaries were primarily defined by the Verdugo Mountains, theArroyo Seco and theLos Angeles River, with the boundary following north along the east bank of the river and wrapping westerly aroundGriffith Park to a point near theTravel Town Museum in the park.[20]
One of the earliest attempts to access and develop the interior of the Verdugo Mountains was the 1912 proposal by Colonel Lewis Ginger to build a cable incline railroad to the summit of Mount Verdugo,now known as Mount Thom.[clarify] The proposed Glendale & Verdugo Mountain Railway was to run in a straight line from thePacific Electric's Casa Verdugo station at the top of Brand Boulevard to the summit of Mount Verdugo, employing cars with stepped seating similar to those ofAngels Flight onBunker Hill in Los Angeles.[21] Initially, Colonel Ginger had proposed that his cable railway would lift a Pacific Electric car directly to the summit, butHenry E. Huntington did not approve of this scheme. The railway was to have four or five stations along the incline and a large visitor's center at the summit. Several months after the initial proposal, the route was altered to run up the west side of Verdugo Canyon from a hoped-for extension of the Pacific Electric up Verdugo Canyon to Montrose. Interest in the cable railway continued for about a year, but the project was abandoned before a company could be formed, largely as the result of the Pacific Electric's decision not to build the Montrose extension.
Fire is a natural component of the chaparral ecosystem, and the plants that comprise it are largely adapted to survive fire or to reproduce after it.[22] More specifically, the members of this plant community are adapted to a particularfire regime, which is characterized by intensity and seasonality, but most importantly, by the frequency of fires.[23] In the southern California chaparral, natural frequencies of 30 to 40 years are typical, with some areas going as long as 100 years without fires and others burning more frequently.[24] It has been estimated the chaparral plant community can persist over the long term only with a fire frequency at a given site of no shorter than several decades, or perhaps longer, although there is variability in the tolerance of different species. Repeated shorter intervals between fires promote so-called "type conversion", in which the shrubby species are replaced by grasses, particularly non-native grasses, and other weedy species.
The Verdugo Mountains have been subject to repeated wildfires in historical times. Major occurrences in the twentieth century include the December, 1927 Burbank Canyon Fire, which started in Haines Canyon in the San Gabriel Mountains and burned south into the range, consuming approximately 100 homes in Burbank's Sunset Canyon.[25]The La Tuna Canyon Fire of November, 1955 burned over almost the entire western portion of the range, ultimately destroying approximately 4,500 acres (1,800 ha).[26]The Whiting Woods Fire of March, 1964, started by a power line downed by high winds, burned from the northern edge of the range southward over to crest to consume homes in Glendale.A fire in November, 1980, also called the La Tuna Canyon Fire, burned 10,000 acres (4,000 ha) in the northern and western portions of the range.[27]Since 2000, three major fires have occurred in the Verdugo Mountains. In September, 2002, the Mountain Fire burned over two days approximately 750 acres (300 ha) above Glendale, largely on the southern side of the range.[28]The Harvard Fire started on September 29, 2005, and consumed 1,024 acres (414 ha) both north and south sides of the range north of Burbank during a six-day period.[29]In September, 2017, theLa Tuna fire started north of the Verdugos, jumpingInterstate 210 forcing the closure of it, burning both the north and south face of the ranges. The fire ultimately destroyed four homes and 7,003 acres (2,834 ha) of land.[30]
Beginning in 1921, theLos Angeles County Fire Department began a county-wide program of building fire breaks (or more properly,fuel breaks) to slow the spread of fire, and by 1923 the initial breaks had been constructed in the Verdugos. In 1934, the City of Glendale built a 60-foot lookout tower on Verdugo Peak, which was staffed with an observer until it closed in the mid-1950s. In order to conduct the work necessary to build fire breaks and roads, temporary construction camps were located throughout the fire-prone areas of the county. In the Verdugo Mountains, Construction Camp #2 was located in the lower reaches of Deer Canyon, at the end of present-day Beaudry Blvd, for a period during the late 1930s and early 1940s.[27] It is difficult to determine from published sources the dates of construction for the fire roads so important to present-day recreational use of the mountains. The report of the 1955 La Tuna Canyon fire,[26] however, indicates that at least some of these roads were in place by that date.
The Verdugo Mountains are being considered as part of the proposed Rim of the Valley CorridorNational Park.[31][32]
Other than theFoothill Freeway (I-210) and the nearly parallel La Tuna Canyon Road, both of which traverse only the northwestern tip of the range, the Verdugo Mountains are crossed by no paved roads. By contrast, the range contains more than 25 miles (40 km) of graded and well maintained fire roads that are used extensively by hikers andmountain bike riders. Several abandoned and overgrown fire roads and ridge-top fire breaks are used recreationally as well. Trails, in the sense of engineered and maintained footpaths, are few, the most notable being the 2.2 mile (3.5 km)-long La Tuna Canyon Trail, which was constructed in 1989 by the Los Angeles Conservation Corps with funds provided by the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy.[33]
Places adjacent to Verdugo Mountains | |
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