View across pastureland from the center of Bennett Valley with Sonoma Mountains in background.

Bennett Valley is a northwest- to southeast-trending valley in Sonoma County, California, USA approximately one mile wide in its northwestern portion, where the southeast extremity of Santa Rosa, California is located.^[1] The axis of the valley floor slopes 40 feet per mile (a gradient of 0.008 or 7.6 m per km) from the pinched central portion of the valley, where knolls divide the northwestern from the southeastern segment of the valley.^[2] Bennett Valley is drained by Matanzas Creek which is incised into the valley floor; an unnamed stream and Spring Creek drain into Matanzas Creek from the east side of Bennett Valley below the Matanzas Creek Reservoir. A flood-control reservoir on Matanzas Creek in the central portion of the valley collects water from the drainage of the upper portion of the valley. Precipitation in the valley varies from approximately 35 to 40 inches (89 to 102 cm) per year. The latter amount falls on Taylor Peak, located immediately above Bennett Valley, in an outlier spur of the Sonoma Mountains sometimes called the Los Gullicos Range. Rainfall occurs primarily during winters (November to April), separated by warm dry summers. Bennett Valley is accessed chiefly via Bennett Valley Road, which traverses the valley floor to connect southeast Santa Rosa with Warm Springs Road in Glen Ellen. Pastureland Pasture is land with lush herbaceous vegetation cover used for grazing of ungulates as part of a farm or ranch. ... The Sonoma Mountains are a northwest-southeast trending formation of California Coast Ranges in Sonoma County, California, USA.[1] These mountains were formed by uplift and volcanic action about twelve million years ago in the Miocene period. ... Fljótsdalur in East Iceland, a rather flat valley A valley or a low area between two hills dale (in Scotland, a glen) is a landform, which can range from a few square kilometres to hundreds or even thousands of square kilometres in area. ... Sonoma County is on the north Pacific coast of California, in the greater San Francisco Bay Area. ... Official language(s) English Capital Sacramento Largest city Los Angeles Area  Ranked 3rd  - Total 158,302 sq mi (410,000 km²)  - Width 250 miles (400 km)  - Length 770 miles (1,240 km)  - % water 4. ... Location of Santa Rosa, California Country United States State California County Sonoma Mayor Jane Bender Area    - City 104. ... Matanzas Creek is a stream in Sonoma County, California that is tributary to Santa Rosa Creek. ... Spring Creek is the name of a number of places in the United States of America: Spring Creek, a tributary of the Knife River in North Dakota in the United States. ... The Sonoma Mountains are a northwest-southeast trending formation of California Coast Ranges in Sonoma County, California, USA.[1] These mountains were formed by uplift and volcanic action about twelve million years ago in the Miocene period. ... Glen Ellen is a census-designated place located in Sonoma County, California. ...

Ecology

Bennett Ridge viewed from the center of Bennett Valley.

Both the upper southwest and northeast sideslopes of Bennett Valley have significant oak woodland. Both forested areas have dominant trees that include coast live oak. On the lower slopes and northern valley floor there are considerable numbers of valley oak in relict stands, from a previous dominant cover of these lower elevations prior to agricultural development of the valley floor. According to the 1990 report of Earth Metrics, a large percentage of valley oaks near Bennett Valley Road at the northwest end of Bennett Valley were infested with oak apple gall.^[2] Gall wasps of the family Cynipidae produce a single sexual generation within a structure that resembles an apple. Some valley oaks on the site are infested with these "fruits," and on first glance appear as apple trees. This infestation is considered mild, and should not affect the oaks' ability to survive. Some valley oaks in this area were also noticeably infested with dwarf mistletoe in the 1990 survey. This facultative epiphytic parasite can lead to the detriment of oak trees if allowed to persist and spread among trees Binomial name Quercus agrifolia The Coast live oak, Quercus agrifolia, also called the California live oak, is an evergeen oak, highly variable and often shrubby, found in the coastal regions of southwestern North America from Mendocino County, California south to northern Baja California in Mexico. ... Binomial name Quercus lobata Nee The Valley oak is the largest of North american oaks and arguably the most majestic of its genus. ... Binomial name Quercus lobata Nee The Valley oak is the largest of North american oaks and arguably the most majestic of its genus. ... Kalanchoë infected with crown-gall using Agrobacterium tumefaciens. ... Gall wasps (Cynipidae), also called Gallflies, are a family of the order Hymenoptera and are classified with the Apocrita suborder of wasps in the superfamily Cynipoidea. ... ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... This article is about the satellite APPLE. For the fruit apple, see Apple. ... An example of an epiphyte assemblage of orchids and bromeliads in a garden setting The term epiphyte refers to any plant that grows upon or attached to another living plant. ... A parasite is an organism that spends a significant portion of its life in or on the living tissue of a host organism and which causes harm to the host without immediately killing it. ...

Soils

Matanzas Creek draining the floor of Bennett Valley.

The dominant surface soil category of Bennett Valley is Clear Lake clay, a soil type occurring here on slopes ranging from zero to two percent gradient.^[3] Clear Lake clay is poorly drained and occurs on long smooth flood plains. Clear Lake clay is found on both sides of Matanzas Creek, which flows northwesterly along the axis of Bennett Valley. Clear Lake clay is dark gray in appearance and manifests a fine to medium granular structure, most commonly supporting hay production in the Bennett Valley. In addition, Zamora silty clay loam is found in several large patches on the valley floor; Zamora silty clay loam is a grayish brown firm, sticky and plastic soil type and is also characteristic of alluvial fans; it has a neutral pH and occurs at minimum depths of about two meters. Due to the economic demand for wine grapes in this region, pressure began in the 1980s to develop some of the Bennett Valley soils for viticulture. Matanzas Creek is a stream in Sonoma County, California that is tributary to Santa Rosa Creek. ... Alluvium is soil land deposited by a river or other running water. ... The correct title of this article is . ... wine grapes Viticulture (from the Latin word for vine) refers to the cultivation of grapes, often for use in the production of wine. ...

Luxury residential and vineyard landrush

Economic factors of land scarcity for upscale residential development^[4] and for premium wine grape cultivation led to an explosion of land values in Bennett Valley starting generally in the 1980s. This trend is shaped by policies of the County of Sonoma, which discourage small lot residential development in Bennett Valley.^[5]These effects have led to a decrease in available natural habitat as well as decreased acreage available for hay farming and pasture usage. Some of the grapes are used locally for wine production such as in the case of the Matanzas Creek Winery, while some are sold to production facilities elsewhere in Sonoma County. As a result of this recognition of Bennett Valley as a premium wine-grape subregion, a new American Viticultural Area named Bennett Valley has been recently approved.^[6] It has been suggested that high end be merged into this article or section. ... An American Viticultural Area (AVA) is a delimited grape-growing region distinguishable by geographic features, with boundaries defined by the United States governments Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB). ...

Residential development has empahsized new construction of custom homes typically built on parcels ranging from five to 40 acres. Most of these homes are of the size range greater than 3500 square feet and characteristic values of these newer homes as of 2007 are in the range of $1.5 to 3.0 million. Most of the Bennett Valley housing stock is nevertheless of more modest pre-1980 characteristics, and in many of these cases valuations are dominated simply by land value.

See also

• Miwok
• Sonoma County wineries
• Sonoma Mountain

Miwok—also spelled Miwuk or Me-Wuk—refers to native Californians who lived in what is now Northern California. ... Sonoma County, California is one of the oldest wine-growing regions in the United States. ... Sonoma Mountain is a prominent landform within the Sonoma Mountains of southern Sonoma County, California. ...

References