California is a state that has it all. Wide sandy beaches, a Mecca for those seeking to turn their skin a rich golden brown, more often acquiring a painful peeling red. Rocky shores not as attractive to the sunbathers but drawing the hikers with their beauty and the fishermen with their bounty. Towering cliffs, not as easy to visit or view but offering spectacular views to those who build atop them and a safe haven for millions of seabirds and often supply a protected home for marine life, including the mammals that spend their lives in the sea. Hundreds of miles of scenic coastline and just off shore, BLACK GOLD. This is the draw for those who care little about anything but the profits they can wring out of the state and that fossil fuel can be found in many places inland as well.
Forests, millennia old redwoods and sequoias, humble but hardy oak trees and many other species. These vast woodlands make the dollar signs light up in the eyes of loggers. Included in this category are the domestics, the orange and lemon groves, the avocados, the cherries, apricots, nectarines, peaches, pears... Again, just about any fruit you can imagine can be grown here. Then there are the nuts, walnuts, almonds, pistachios and the less known but still sought after products from tree and bush. The state is the biggest supplier of fresh food to the rest of the country.
Mountains are plentiful, forming the backbones of the state. Offering us beauty and danger for the hikers, mountain climbers, hunters and skiers. We get much of our water from these elevations where snow collects in winter and rushes down the many rivers to natural and artificial lakes and reservoirs, and back to the ocean that spawned it.
Rivers are the state's lifeblood, serving as veins to maintain a healthy environment. Flora and fauna cannot flourish without access. They supply the element none can live without, H2o. This precious resource is sought after by many. Salmon rely on healthy rivers to make their final journey to replenish the species. people from time immemorial have survived off the myriad species of fish that abound in these waters. Others come to traverse the churning white water rapids, a sport not for the faint of heart. recreational swimmers attracted by the wild beauty, also face danger when they underestimate the powerful currents, Desert farmers seek to divert this necessary element to their thirsty farms, bottlers want to take it away for pennies and sell it for dollars, Big Oil wants billions of gallons to force their product out of the ground with fracking, which pretty much destroys the water for other uses.
California is rich in fertile fields and valleys, the soil perfect for farmers and growing things. Also the perfect location for that new suburb, the new housing tract, that big shopping mall. Much of the land that grew wheat, barley, corn, vegetables, fruit, cattle and sheep are covered over or turned into the latest get-rich scheme - vineyards. Those grapes take a lot of water when they irrigate them. The wine they produce is sold all over this and other countries and the water they use goes with them, never to return to the local aquifer. This is why we pump water into the desert, to please Big Ag which had nowhere else to grow.
Then it has the deserts. Vast so-called wastelands that contain their own wild inhabitants, flora and fauna, which have adjusted and thrive in the harsh environment. In times long past, much of this land was productive and it contains the archeological remnants of early inhabitants, giving us a key into how man lived and survived long before any European touched this continent. There too lies the insideous fossil fuels, bringing the wealth seekers who care not about the destruction they leave behind.
The biggest complaint in California to the moneymakers is taxes. To the average Joe/Jane it's housing costs. California is the fourth or fifth largest economy IN THE WORLD and pays double what any other state contributes to the federal coffers. It supports those 'red' states whose tax experiments have failed to trickle down.
With all its problems, those born and raised Californian or residents of long duration prefer to stay in this beautiful and diverse state and when forced to leave by circumstance are always looking for an excuse to return.