Protected areas of California
According to the , in the state of California, United States, there are over 14,000 inventoried protected areas administered by public agencies and non-profits. In addition, there are private conservation areas and other easements. They include almost one-third of California's scenic coastline, including coastal wetlands, estuaries, beaches, and dune systems. The California State Parks system alone has 270 units and covers 1.3 million acres, with over 280 miles of coastline, 625 miles of lake and river frontage, nearly 18,000 campsites, and 3,000 miles of hiking, biking, and equestrian trails.
Obtaining an accurate total of all protected land in California and elsewhere is a complex task. Many parcels have inholdings, private lands within the protected areas, which may or may not be accounted for when calculating total area. Also, occasionally one parcel of land is included in two or more inventories. Over 90% of Yosemite National Park for example, is listed both as wilderness by the National Wilderness Preservation System, and as national park land by the National Park Service. The Cosumnes River Preserve is an extreme example, owned and managed by a handful of public agencies and private landowners, including the Bureau of Land Management, the County of Sacramento and The Nature Conservancy. Despite the difficulties, the CPAD gives the total area of protected land at, or 47.05% of the state ; a considerable amount for the most populous state in the country.
National Park System
The U.S. National Park System controls a large and diverse group of California parks, monuments, recreation areas and other units which in total exceed. The best known is Yosemite National Park, noted for several iconic natural features including Yosemite Falls, El Capitan and Half Dome, which is displayed on the reverse side of the California state quarter. Other prominent parks are the Kings Canyon-Sequoia National Park complex, Redwood National Park, Channel Islands National Park, Joshua Tree National Park and the largest, Death Valley National Park. The NPS also administers the Manzanar National Historic Site in Inyo County.National parks
- Channel Islands National Park
- Death Valley National Park
- Joshua Tree National Park
- Kings Canyon National Park
- Lassen Volcanic National Park
- Pinnacles National Park
- Redwood National Park
- Sequoia National Park
- Yosemite National Park
National monuments
- Cabrillo National Monument
- Castle Mountains National Monument
- César E. Chávez National Monument
- Devils Postpile National Monument
- Lava Beds National Monument
- Muir Woods National Monument
- Mojave Trails National Monument
- San Gabriel Mountains National Monument
- Sand to Snow National Monument
- Lake Unit, World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument|World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument]
National recreation areas
- Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area
- Whiskeytown National Recreation Area
- Golden Gate National Recreation Area
National seashores
National preserves
National Landscape Conservation System
The Bureau of Land Management’s National Landscape Conservation System includes over 850 federally recognized areas and in California, manages of public lands, nearly 15% of the state's land area.The National Landscape Conservation System is composed of several types of units: national monuments, national conservation areas, forest reserves, outstanding natural areas, national scenic and historic trails, wilderness, wilderness study areas, and others.
National monuments
'National conservation areas
Forest reserves
Outstanding natural areas
National scenic and historic trails
- California National Historic Trail
- Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail
- Old Spanish National Historic Trail
- Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail
Wilderness and wilderness study areas
Total BLM-managed wilderness land in California is.National Marine Sanctuaries
The National Marine Sanctuary System is managed by the Office of Marine Sanctuaries, of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.California has four of the thirteen U.S. National Marine Sanctuaries:
- Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary
- Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary
- Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary
- Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary - one of the largest in the world at.
National Wildlife Refuges
National Wildlife Refuge is a designation for certain protected areas of the United States managed by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. The National Wildlife Refuge System is an extensive system of public lands and waters set aside to conserve America's fish, wildlife and plants. Many of the state's refuges are important stops and destinations for millions of migrating birds along the Pacific Flyway corridor. One, the Butte Sink Wildlife Management Area, has the highest density of waterfowl in the world. There are 38 units in the refuge system in California, including both wildlife refuges and wildlife management areas, divided into 9 different regional areas. Combined the areas equal about.Hopper Mountain NWR Complex
San Diego NWR Complex
Humboldt Bay NWR Complex
San Francisco Bay NWR Complex
- Antioch Dunes NWR
- Don Edwards [San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge|Don Edwards San Francisco Bay NWR]
- Ellicott Slough NWR
- Farallon NWR
- Marin Islands NWR
- Salinas River NWR
- San Pablo Bay NWR
Kern NWR Complex
San Luis NWR Complex
Klamath Basin NWR Complex
Sonny Bono Salton Sea NWR Complex
Sacramento NWR Complex
- Butte Sink WMA
- Colusa NWR
- Delevan NWR
- North Central Valley WMA
- Sacramento NWR
- Sacramento River NWR
- Sutter NWR
- Willow Creek-Lurline WMA
Other refuges
Wild and Scenic rivers
Rivers designated as Wild and Scenic are administered by one of four federal land management agencies: The Bureau of Land Management, The National Park Service, The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service or The U.S. Forest Service. There are 22 rivers in California with portions designated as Wild and Scenic, with 23 designations in all. Listed in miles.| River | Designated Wild | Designated Scenic | Designated Recreational | Total Protected |
| Amargosa River | 7.9 | 12.1 | 6.3 | 26.3 |
| American River | 23 | 23 | ||
| American River | 38.3 | 38.3 | ||
| Bautista Creek | 9.8 | 9.8 | ||
| Big Sur | 19.5 | 19.5 | ||
| Black Butte River | 17.5 | 3.5 | 21 | |
| Cottonwood Creek | 17.4 | 4.1 | 21.5 | |
| Eel River | 97 | 28 | 273 | 398 |
| Feather River | 32.9 | 9.7 | 35 | 77.6 |
| Fuller Mill Creek | 2.6 | 0.9 | 3.5 | |
| Kern River | 123.1 | 7 | 20.9 | 151 |
| Kings River | 65.5 | 15.5 | 81 | |
| Klamath River | 11.7 | 23.5 | 250.8 | 286 |
| Merced River | 71 | 16 | 35.5 | 122.5 |
| Owens River | 6.3 | 6.6 | 6.2 | 19.1 |
| Palm Canyon Creek | 8.1 | 8.1 | ||
| Piru Creek | 4.3 | 3 | 7.3 | |
| San Jacinto River | 7.2 | 2.3 | 0.7 | 10.2 |
| Sisquoc River | 33 | 33 | ||
| Smith River | 78 | 31 | 216.4 | 325.4 |
| Trinity River | 44 | 39 | 120 | 203 |
| Tuolumne River | 47 | 23 | 13 | 83 |
National Forests
California has 17 U.S. National Forests, one special management unit and parts of 3 other National Forests. Total combined area of the forests is and covers over 19% of the state. The largest forest entirely within the state is Shasta-Trinity National Forest, at, the smallest is Cleveland National Forest at. The Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit is not precisely a national forest in the conventional sense. Instead the Forest Service manages the land with particular attention paid to Lake Tahoe and its relationship with the forests surrounding it, with emphasis on erosion control management and watershed restoration, among other more conventional forest management activities. It is the smallest of the Forest Service units in California, with in its jurisdiction split between California and Nevada.File:Mount Whitney September 2009.JPG|right|thumb|300px|The Inyo National Forest contains Mount Whitney, the highest point in California.
| State Forest | Land area |
| Angeles National Forest | 655,387 |
| Cleveland National Forest | 460,000 |
| Eldorado National Forest | 596,724 |
| Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest | 6,289,821 |
| Inyo National Forest | 1,903,381 |
| Klamath National Forest | 1,737,774 |
| Lassen National Forest | 1,070,344 |
| Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit | 150,000 |
| Los Padres National Forest | 1,950,000 |
| Mendocino National Forest | 913,306 |
| Modoc National Forest | 1,654,392 |
| Plumas National Forest | 1,146,000 |
| San Bernardino National Forest | 823,816 |
| Sequoia National Forest | 1,193,315 |
| Shasta–Trinity National Forest | 2,209,832 |
| Sierra National Forest | 1,300,000 |
| Six Rivers National Forest | 957,590 |
| Stanislaus National Forest | 898,099 |