Cleveland National Forest

Cleveland National Forest is located within the California Floristic Province, one of 18 hotspots identified by renown Harvard University biologist, Edward O. Wilson, in his classic, The Diversity of Life. "Hot spots" are habitats with many species found nowhere else and in greatest danger of extinction from human activity.

The California Floristic Province's Mediterranean-climate domain stretches from southern Oregon to Baja California and contains, as Dr. Wilson narrates, "one fourth of all the plant species found in the United States and Canada combined. Half, or 2,140 species, are found nowhere else in the world. Their environment is being rapidly constricted by urban and agricultural development, especially along the central and southern coasts of California."

Cleveland National Forest's western boundary varies in distance along its length from l0 to 30 miles from the Pacific coast. This Mediterranean climate provides habitat for a variety of wildlife from the tiny kangaroo rat to the powerful mountain lion to the regal peregrine falcon. The Cleveland National Forest has an extensive chaparral environment, with conifers occurring at the higher elevations.

Palomar is the central district which includes Palomar Mountain. The famed Palomar Observatory with its 200 inch Hale telescope is a state-run facility within the district boundaries. The rugged Agua Tibia Wilderness extends from high desert landscapes to Coulter pines and big-cone Douglas fir along its upper reaches. The district is home to one of the largest stands of rare big-cone Douglas fir in Southern California.

Cleveland National Forest extends from within 5 miles of the border with Mexico northward approximately 130 miles to Orange and Riverside counties. The southernmost district of Descanso is noted for the Laguna Mountains and the Hauser and Pine Creek Wilderness areas, containing a chaparral/oak woodland ecosystem.

The northern district is Trabuco wherein lie the Santa Ana Mountains and San Mateo Wilderness, nearly 40,000 acres of rugged southern California chaparral wildland with steep canyons.

Cleveland National Forest is also home to 43 recognized sensitive plant species: