Did You Know?
You’ve probably (hopefully!) noticed that on most pages of the Web site we have a box titled “Did you know?" Just the kind of information snippet that you can drop at the next party and everyone says, “Well, I never!"
So if you don’t want to have to work your way through every single page to find every single “Did you know", here they all are.
San Diego County is rated one of the 25 wildlife hot spots in the world.
The San Diego Sea to Sea Trail starts at its east end 228’ below sea level, tops out at 4,800’ above sea level, and finishes at its west end at sea level.
The Salton Sea is now a named star in the 2002 movie, The Salton Sea, ‘co’-starring Val Kilmer.
The Torrey pine is the rarest native pine in the US and found only in the Torrey Pine State Reserve.
Pine trees do not have flowers. Pines have ‘strobili’, which serve the same purpose.
The Salton Sea is actually a lake, and the largest lake in California.
Lake Cahuilla was the original name for the Salton Sea, and formed in 700 AD.
From 1941-1945, commercial fishermen used the Salton Sea to supply mullet for coastal fish markets after German submarines made ocean fishing hazardous.
Congressman Sonny Bono was a champion for the restoration of the Salton Sea. Upon his death, his wife, Mary, succeeded him.
The sun evaporates 18% of the Salton Sea’s volume every year, but the salt is left behind.
The Borrego Badlands in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park provides extensive exposures of Pleistocene-aged (100-700,000 years old) stream and playa lake deposits.
In San Diego County we have only insectivorous and nectivorous bats.
To aid the return of bat populations, bat boxes have been erected along the Trail in Los Penasquitos State Park.
20 million people are estimated to live within two hours travel of the Cleveland National Forest.
22 endangered plant and animal species are found in the Cleveland National Forest.
Anza-Borrego Desert State Park is the largest state park in the contiguous US.
Borrego is Spanish for bighorn sheep.
Over 500 different types of fossilized organisms have been identified in Anza-Borrego Desert, including the largest of mammoth elephants.
San Diego manufactures more than 50% of the US’s golf clubs.
California’s water reservoirs store approximately 42 million acre feet per year.
Healthy adults need 2 quarts (8lt) of water a day. US Army recommends their soldiers consume 5 quarts (20lt) a day.
California’s State Rock is serpentine.
California’s State Song is ‘I Love You, California’, written by F.B. Silverwood.
California’s State Flower is the California Golden Poppy (Eschsholtzia californica).
California’s State Tree is the California Redwood - the coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) and the giant sequoia (Sequoia gigantea).
California’s State Reptile is the desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizi).
California’s State Animal is the California grizzly bear (Ursus californicus).
California’s State Bird is the California Quail (Lophortyx californica).
California’s State Insect is the California dogface butterfly (Zerene eurydice).
San Diego is positioned 32.81 degrees north of the equator and 117.13 degrees west of the prime meridian.
San Diego’s average annual rainfall is less than 10 inches per year.
San Diego’s Sister City is the City of Yokahama, Japan.
San Diego’s average temperature is F70/C22, but it gets hotter the further inland you go.
The California Redwood is the tallest tree, growing up to 370 feet (113 m) tall and living for over a thousand years. One redwood in California is 2,200 years old.
The Salton Sea is a third saltier than the Pacific Ocean.
400 species of birds are attracted to the Salton Sea every year, including 100 breeding species.
American Indians began their occupation of the Salton Basin in 10,000 BC, 10,700 years before Lake Cahuilla was formed.
During World War II, the US Army dropped dummy atomic bombs into the Salton Sea in practice runs prior to the bombing of Hiroshima.
Each of your feet gives off a full cup of sweat during an average day of hiking. That amounts to 3 1/2 quarts a week for the pair. Or 45 1/2 gallons a year.
Over 3 million birds can be found at the Salton Sea on peak winter days.
The Salton Sea is known as the fastest boat racing lake in the US because its high salt content causes vessels to be more buoyant.
The Salton Sea geothermal system is the hottest water-dominated system in the world.
The Salton Sea’s seven geothermal power plants make it the second largest producer of geothermal-generated electricity and mineral recovery in the US.
Gale Gordon, Honorary Mayor of Borrego Springs and star of television’s “The Lucy Show", declared June 24, 1964, a holiday in Borrego Springs to mark completion of the Montezuma Valley Road.
160,000 tons of dynamite was used to carve a way down San Ysidro Mountain to build the Montezuma Valley Road into Borrego Springs.
The Sonny Bono Salton Sea National Wildlife Refuge has the second largest number of species of birds within the National Wildlife Refuge system.
There are an estimated 500 million tons of salt in the Salton Sea.
Recent scientific studies of the Salton Sea have identified approximately 20 new species of microorganisms new to science.
Over 90% of natural inland wetlands have been lost in California since 1780.
Almost the entire inflow to the Salton Sea (98%) is from agricultural runoff.
There are an estimated 200,000,000 fish in the Salton Sea.
During the winter, the Salton Sea is host to about 30,000 pelicans, 80% of the US’s pelican population.
All the fish species in the Salton Sea were introduced, except for the endangered Desert Pupfish.
The Salton Sea’s endangered Desert Pupfish is a small, silvery-colored fish with 6 to 9 dark bands on its sides and grows to a full average length of only 2.5 inches.
Torrey Pines State Reserve was established as America’s first urban natural preserve and celebrated its centenary in October 1999.
Anza-Borrego’s Ocotillo plant sheds its leaves during a drought to conserve moisture.
Within 48 hours of rain, Anza-Borrego’s Ocotillo plant will sprout leaves.
The stems of Anza-Borrego’s Ocotillo plant are covered with a thick water-resistant cuticle.
Anza-Borrego’s Ocotillo plant is in the Fouquieria genus, named after Pierre Edouard Fouquier, a 19th century French professor of medicine.
‘Anza’, of Anza-Borrego Desert, is Juan Bautista de Anza, who was the Spanish captain of the epic 1775-76 San Francisco colonial expedition that passed through the region.
Combat between bighorn rams has been observed to last for longer than 24 hours.
Anza-Borrego Desert State Park protects the richest concentration of lizards and snakes in California with over 50 different species.
The Chuckwalla is Anza-Borrego’s largest lizard with a total body length of up to 16 inches. If frightened it will rush back to its favorite rock crevice and start swallowing air – once inflated it becomes wedged and you can’t get it out!
Anza-Borrego’s Zebra-tailed lizard is North America’s fastest reptile, sprinting at a top speed of 18 miles per hour.
Carmel Mountain hosts the largest remaining stand of Southern Maritime Chaparral in the world. This plant community occurs only in coastal Southern California and Mexico.
The nearest stoplight to Borrego Springs is 50 miles away in Ramona.
Anza-Borrego Desert State Park is one of the few remaining blooming deserts in the world.
Anza-Borrego Desert State Park is designated a United Nations Biosphere Reserve, placing it as part of the international community.
Of San Diego’s 22 lakes, all 22 of them are man-made!
USA Today rated Anza-Borrego Desert “one of the five best places in the world" (April 14, 2001).
