The population within the plain comprises a majority of the western half of the Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura Metro Area and includes the largest city along the Central Coast of California. The The high quality soils, adequate water supply, favorable climate, long growing season, and level topography are characteristic of the Oxnard Plain where the top cash crops are strawberries, raspberries, nursery stock and celery.
There is strong public sentiment for retaining agricultural production, as reflected in the SOAR Save Open Space and Agricultural Resources initiatives that have been approved by voters. This plain has been formed chiefly by the deposition of sediments from the Santa Clara River and Calleguas Creek. The Santa Clara River is one of the largest river systems along the coast of Southern California and only one of two remaining river systems in the region that remain in their natural states.
Highway near El Rio. There are also several smaller abandoned oil fields. Oil facilities are interspersed with agricultural land uses both east and west of Oxnard. Human settlement at over B. These prehistoric sites may contain middens , milling stone sites , large villages, cemeteries, and tool making sites. The diversity of natural resources along with the temperate climate with a long growing season produced a lengthy archaeological record of human activity along the coast.
The numerous archaeological sites in the adjacent Santa Monica Mountains also demonstrate the long history of human habitation.
Many of the archaeological sites on the plain have been disturbed by erosion, farming, gophers, bulldozers, and other cultural and natural sources of disturbance. Spanish explorers made sailing expeditions along the coast of southern California between the mids and mids.
