Monterey Peninsula

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The Monterey Peninsula in central California comprises the cities of Monterey, Carmel, Pacific Grove, and the private community of Pebble Beach.

1 Demographics
2 History
3 Environmental features
4 References
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] Demographics

The total population of all four Monterey Peninsula communities is 53,808 with 80.13% of the total population being White, 1.71% being African American, 8.47% being Hispanic or Latinos of any race, and 5.99% being of Asian descent. (2000 Census, U.S. Census Bureau)

[edit] History

The city of Monterey was founded in 1777 and marked the beginning of settlement in Central California. The city became the capital of Spanish and later Mexican California. Up until the mid 19th century the city served as California's cultural and political center. Monterey is home to some of California's oldest buildings (adobes) as well as California's first theatre.

In the late 19th century the fishing industry became the area's most profitable and important economic sector. Started by mostly Italian immigrants in Monterey and Chinese immigrants in Pacific Grove, the fishing industry flourished. By the 1930's Canneries lined the northern shore of the Peninsula. These Canneries were the set for the novels: Cannery Row and Sweet Thursday by famed local author John Steinbeck. By the early 1940's, however, the fishing industry was dealt a devastating blow when the heavily overfished waters did not yield the amounts of fish needed to keep the canneries in the green. The end of big business fishing on the Monterey County was the beginning of several conservation efforts which eventually lead to the creation of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary.

Today, tourism is serves as the Peninsula's main industry. Tourism started on the Peninsula with a religious vacation settlement by Protestants from San Francisco. This settlement was also the beginning of the town of Pacific Grove. Today once smelly Cannery Row is a tourist center lined with boutiques, restaurants, and hotels.

[edit] Environmental features

A variety of natural habitats are found on the Monterey Peninsula: littoral zone and sand dunes; closed cone pine forest; and Monterey Cypress habitat. During the early 1900s, Willis L. Jepson characterized the forests on the Monterey Peninsula as the "most important silva ever", and encouraged Samuel F. B. Morse of the Del Monte Properties Company to explore the possibilities of preserving the unique forest communities^[1]. The dune area is also important, as it hosts endangered species such as the vascular plants Seaside birds beak and Eastwoods Ericameria. The closed cone pine forest habitat is dominated by Monterey pine, Knobcone pine and Bishop pine, and contains the rare Monterey manzanita and endangered Hickman's potentilla and Yadon's piperia; rare plants inhabiting chaparral habitat in Monterey are: Hickman's onion and Sandmat manzanita. Other rare plants on the peninsula are: Hutchinson's delphinium, Tidestrom lupine; Gardner's yampah and Monterey Knotweed