Yokohl
Valley
A Treasure of
Tulare
County
Where is
Yokohl
Valley?
And why is it so special?
Yokohl
Valley,
named after a band of Foothill Yokuts people, is located in the
Sierra Nevada foothills, east of
Visalia
and
Exeter,
and south of
Lake
Kaweah.
This part of
Tulare
County
is varied in terrain and
vegetation, containing steep slopes, expansive valleys, waterways,
oak woodlands, stands of sycamores, grasslands, chaparral, rare vernal
pools, and wonderful wildflowers. Here
where the foothills begin to rise above the level land, pleasing the eye
and providing habitat for a myriad of plants and animals, humans have traveled and lived for
many centuries.
Over
30 important Native American
sites, some dating back thousands of years, have been documented in
Yokohl Valley, including significant rock art areas, four major village
sites, unique rock slides (like playground slides), ceremonial cupules,
gathering and processing sites, bedrock mortars, and several burial
grounds. Many of these are
world-class in the quality of their artifacts and information, and all
of them are sacred to the descendants of these early Native American
residents, many of whom still live nearby and continue to visit their
ancestral homelands.
During
the 1700s and 1800s, Spanish soldiers and missionaries passed through
Yokohl
Valley,
and the Spaniards may have done a bit of mining in the area.
The Yokuts mined soapstone here, near
Lindsay
Peak, and collected diatomaceous earth, used for white
pigment, at Rocky Hill (which they called “Paint
Place”).
In the
mid-19th century,
ranchers started grazing cattle and sheep in
Yokohl
Valley,
and descendants of two of these original families are ranching on their
homeplaces today. One of the
original ranch houses is now over 120 years old, and still in use.
Parts of old schoolhouses and several homestead foundations and
chimneys also remain.
In a
meadow in Jordan Flat, the cabin of
Wiley Hinds still overlooks
the valley. Born into
slavery in
Arkansas in 1836, Wiley Hinds in the 1850s worked his way to
California,
and by 1868, he had saved enough money to buy his first 80 acres, in the
Horse Creek drainage, and to build his cabin.
Eventually, he helped another black rancher, Arthur Barron, to
acquire 160 acres just south of the Jordan Flat ranch.
At the turn of the last century, the Catron cabin was built,
where the Boswell Company’s ranch manager Harvey Ruth spent much of his
time, at the head of Wells Creek.
Marker dedication in 1977 of the Jordan Toll Trail Monument, where
Yokohl Creek crosses Highway 198. Dedicated in memory of my
grandmother's grandfather, John Jordan. Picture right to left, Jack
Epperson, Shirley Bridges, Cathy Trimble and Gerald Epperson.
The
Jordan Trail,
constructed by
John Jordan in 1862, is still visible in many areas of the valley, until
the old trail climbs steeply up
Blue Ridge while the paved road switchbacks more slowly up the long grade.
Cattle were driven over this toll trail from the
Central Valley
across the Sierra and down to
Independence
and the Coso silver mines in the
Owens
Valley
on the eastern side of the range.
Jordan’s
descendants settled in several locations throughout Yokohl’s central
valley, and their descendants continue to hold summer reunions in Mooney
Grove.
Amazingly, much of the
Yokohl
Valley
area still looks much as it did 150 years ago, and still provides a home
to many native species of plants
and animals, including several that are threatened or endangered.
Annual grasslands, meadows, chaparral, upland areas, rocky
outcroppings, cliffs, riparian corridors, vernal pools, foothill pine,
and oak woodlands provide habitat for wildlife ranging from western pond
turtles to the more expected denizens such as deer, coyotes, mountain
lions, bobcats, opossums, skunks, and raccoons.
Bedecked with their spring fairy rings of flowers, the valley’s vernal
pools host unique fairy shrimp.
Western spadefoots live here, too, along with special plant
species such as spiny sepaled button celery and Kaweah brodiaea.
Every year for a month or two, carpets of pink, purple, blue,
white, yellow, orange, and red line the little road through the valley
and up the hill as popcorn flower, fiddleneck, lupine, Chinese houses,
fairy lanterns, Madia, monkey flowers and farewell to spring bloom in
their brilliant succession against the green grass that turns so soon to
summer gold.
Yokohl’s wonderful birdlife
includes ferruginous hawks, golden and bald eagles, merlins, prairie
falcons, long-billed curlews, burrowing owls, loggerhead shrikes, horned
larks, purple martins, mountain bluebirds, vesper sparrows, and
tricolored blackbirds, along with many
more commonly seen and enjoyed species that frequent the area.
Often you will hear the beautiful song of the western
meadowlarks, and sometimes the whistling calls of the curlews in flight.
Additionally, Yokohl adjoins the Blue Ridge National Wildlife Refuge,
established to protect a traditional roosting site of the California
condor. For thousands of
years,
Yokohl
Valley
provided critical foraging habitat for that magnificent bird.
Gazing up from Yokohl’s grasslands, one can readily imagine the
sight that the Yokuts saw daily and that could be seen here still until
just 25 years ago: birds
that are among the biggest in the world soaring silently overhead, high
over the valley’s plain, the stream, the great rocks, the trees, the
rugged hilltops, high against the white clouds, then vanishing into the
blue.
Locals
and visitors alike, bicyclists, motorcyclists, hikers, runners,
wildflower enthusiasts, nature lovers, historians, artists,
photographers, birders, connoisseurs of
California’s
scenic byways, and anyone who craves a glimpse of the old West will
savor a visit to
Yokohl
Valley.
With
its splendid, unspoiled, ever-changing vistas, Yokohl’s winding rural
road has been marked for designation as an official county scenic route
for decades.
Stop on your journey
to listen to the quiet and to marvel at the beauty and the lives and the
stories that have been nourished through the centuries by this treasure
of
Tulare
County.
Save
Yokohl
Valley
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is
Yokohl
Valley?
And why is it so special?
Yokohl
Valley
is located in the
Sierra Nevada
foothills, east of
Visalia
and Exeter,
and south of
Lake Kaweah.
This beautiful part of
Tulare
County
is varied in terrain and vegetation, containing steep slopes, expansive
valleys, waterways, oak woodlands, stands of sycamores, grasslands,
chaparral, and wonderful wildflowers.
Over 30 important Native American sites have been documented
here, including significant rock art areas, two major village sites,
unique rock slides, ceremonial cupules, bedrock mortars, and at least
one burial ground. In the mid-19th
century, ranchers started grazing cattle in
Yokohl Valley,
and the descendents of some of these original ranching families still
graze their cattle here today.
Amazingly, much of the
Yokohl Valley
area still looks much as it did 150 years ago, and still provides a home
to many native species of plants and animals, including several
endangered species. It even
includes a National Wildlife Refuge for the California condor, and
critical foraging habitat for that magnificent bird.
Cyclists, wildflower enthusiasts, nature lovers, connoisseurs of
California’s
scenic byways, and anyone who wants a glimpse of the old West will savor
a visit to the
Yokohl Valley
area.
What is Yokohl Ranch?
The J.G. Boswell
Company wants to turn over 36,000 acres of Yokohl Valley into a new city
of 30,000 people, living in 10,000 houses, with three golf courses, a
550,000 square foot commercial center, a resort and private recreation
facility up Horse Creek, a new dam to create a water storage facility
(with the water presumably to be pumped over from the Kaweah River), a
wastewater treatment plant, many new roads (including one coming down
the Horse Creek canyon to Highway 198 at Lake Kaweah), a new utility
line corridor running from Lindsay, and, eventually, some public service
facilities (e.g., police and fire substations, schools, etc.).
Why does this affect me?
The proposal to
build a new town of 30,000 people on what is now undeveloped ranch land
affects everybody in
Tulare County.
Preliminary environmental impact studies prepared for the Yokohl
Ranch project list
73
“potentially” significant impacts to our air, water, wildlife,
agricultural land, and cultural heritage.
Development of this proposed new town will impact water supply,
air quality, traffic, schools, and police and fire services.
The proposed development will affect not only everyone who walks,
bikes, or drives through
Yokohl Valley,
but also those in nearby communities, as the new town could attract
investment dollars and businesses away from our existing towns.
Don’t we need Yokohl Ranch to house
Tulare
County’s
growing population? Won’t it
relieve development pressure on prime agricultural land?
No!
Tulare County
can easily accommodate all the
growth projected over the next several decades within the existing
development boundaries of its current cities, communities, and hamlets.
A study prepared by
Tulare
County’s
consultants found that a population increase of over 950,000 people –
considerably more than we’re expecting within the next 20 years -- can
be housed within our existing
development boundaries without
increases in density.
Yokohl Ranch is
not being designed to meet
Tulare County’s
housing needs, but to be marketed to buyers from outside areas looking
for relative bargains in high-end housing.
Thus, it would not “save”
farmland on the valley floor from development.
The key to meeting Tulare County’s housing needs, preserving
valley floor agricultural lands, improving our air quality, diversifying
and strengthening our economy, managing our water supply and quality,
and maintaining our open space is to promote cost-effective,
resource-efficient development located where jobs, infrastructure,
transportation, and services already exist.
This is a much healthier alternative to rural sprawl and the
degradation of our air, water, and viewsheds and our foothill
agricultural and tourism economy.
What about property rights?
Shouldn’t Boswell be able to do whatever he wants to with his
land?
In
California,
for many decades, zoning has been a primary factor in protecting
property rights and property values.
Yokohl is zoned for foothill agriculture (such as grazing).
Your property values and quality of life are protected by zoning,
which keeps your neighbor from pursuing incompatible land uses next to
your property (e.g., I can’t turn my residential-zoned property into a
casino, a gravel pit, or a hazardous-waste disposal site next door to
your residence). Zoning lets
us know what to expect and enables us to plan effectively, by directing
various land uses to designated appropriate locations.
If Boswell wants to build houses in
Tulare
County,
he should do so on land zoned for residential development, and already
supported by nearby jobs, transportation, services, and infrastructure.
What can I do to help?
·
Stay
informed! Sign on to our
mailing list, which will keep you up-to-date on key hearings, updates,
and events related to Yokohl Ranch.
Check our website: WWW.TCCRG.ORG.
·
Contact
your elected officials to let them know you oppose revising current
zoning laws to permit development of new towns like Yokohl Ranch.
It’s never the “wrong” time to contact your Supervisor or
Assemblyperson and let them know you oppose the construction of new
towns in
Tulare
County.
·
Attend
public hearings, and speak up on these key issues!
·
Support
TCCRG. As a primarily
volunteer organization, we rely on donations to fund any staff
assistance, outreach events and materials, website maintenance, etc.
Every little bit helps!
Thank you for caring
about
Tulare County!
Save Yokohl Valley
!!