Pacheco State Park is a

California State Park The California Department of Parks and Recreation, more commonly known as California State Parks, manages the California state parks system. The system administers 279 separate park units on 1.4 million acres (570,000 hectares), with over 280 ...

to the south of

Pacheco Pass Pacheco Pass, elevation , is a low mountain pass located in the Diablo Range in southeastern Santa Clara County, California. It is the main route through the hills separating the Santa Clara Valley and the Central Valley. As with most passes in ...

in the

Diablo Range The Diablo Range is a mountain range in the California Coast Ranges subdivision of the Pacific Coast Ranges in northern California, United States. It stretches from the eastern San Francisco Bay area at its northern end to the Salinas Valley are ...

, located mostly in western

Merced County, California Merced County ( ), is a county located in the northern San Joaquin Valley section of the Central Valley, in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 281,202. The county seat is Merced. The county is named after ...

but extending into southeastern

Santa Clara County Santa Clara County, officially the County of Santa Clara, is the sixth-most populous county in the U.S. state of California, with a population of 1,936,259, as of the 2020 census. Santa Clara County and neighboring San Benito County together f ...

and near Hollister in

San Benito County San Benito County (; ''San Benito'', Spanish for " St. Benedict"), officially the County of San Benito, is a county located in the Coast Range Mountains of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 64,209. The co ...

. Located west of

Los Banos, California Los Banos ( ), alternatively Los Baños ( ), is a city in Merced County, California, United States. It is located in the San Joaquin Valley in central California, near the junction of State Route 152 and Interstate 5. Its population was 45,532 ...

and east of Gilroy, the park entrance is on Dinosaur Point Road, a short distance from

California State Route 152 State Route 152 (SR 152) is a state highway that runs from east to west near the middle of the U.S. state of California from State Route 1 in Watsonville to State Route 99 southeast of Merced. Its western portion (which is also known as Pacheco ...

near Pacheco Pass. The park contains , though only the western to the west are open to the public. The eastern two-thirds of the park are closed due to an underdeveloped trail system and safety concerns over the numerous

wind turbine A wind turbine is a device that converts the kinetic energy of wind into electrical energy. Hundreds of thousands of large turbines, in installations known as wind farms, now generate over 650 gigawatts of power, with 60 GW added each yea ...

s that are located in the Gonzaga Wind Farm that occupies the area. In 2018, it was announced that the 1980s-era turbines would be replaced with more efficient models, which would increase power production capacity from the original 16.5 megawatts (MW) to as much as 80 MW.

History

Francisco_Pérez_Pacheco_(Barbieri,_1852)

The park is named after Californio ranchero Don Francisco Pérez Pacheco and was created as the last piece of the Rancho San Luis Gonzaga in 1997, five years after it was bequeathed to the state by Paula M. Fatjó. Fatjó was the great-great granddaughter of Don Francisco Pérez Pacheco, for whom both the park and the nearby

are named. The rancho had been in the Pacheco family since 1843, serving as a horse and cattle ranch.

Recreation

The park now has about of trails for hiking, horseback riding and mountain biking. Dogs are not allowed on the trails. There are no camping facilities inside the park, nor are there any sources of potable water for human consumption. The park is known for its vistas of the Central Valley to the East and the

Santa Clara Valley The Santa Clara Valley is a geologic trough in Northern California that extends 90 miles (145 km) south–southeast from San Francisco to Hollister. The longitudinal valley is bordered on the west by the Santa Cruz Mountains and on the east ...

to the West. In Spring, there are impressive displays of colorful wildflowers. Historic features in the park include an old line shack used by a cattle company in the 1800s, part of the old Butterfield Stage route and the ruins of the original Pacheco adobe. Wildlife in the park include

tule elk The tule elk (''Cervus canadensis nannodes'') is a subspecies of elk found only in California, ranging from the grasslands and marshlands of the Central Valley to the grassy hills on the coast. The subspecies name derives from the tule (), a ...

, deer, bobcat, coyote, fox, several varieties of hawks, golden eagles and many smaller animals. Park land is still used for cattle grazing during the winter and spring.

Power production

A large part of the park that is closed to the public is devoted to wind turbines that were installed in the 1980s and designed to produce 16.5 megawatts (MW) of electric power. Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners announced that its Quinbrook Low Carbon Power Fund had won a long-term lease to upgrade the Gonzaga Wind Farm in Pacheco State Park. Scout Clean Energy, an operating company owned by Quinbrook, will replace the existing turbines with more modern designs that are designed to produce up to 80 MW of power.Petrova, Veselina. "Quinbrook Infrastructure secures 80-MW wind repowering in California". Renewables Now. February 6, 2018.
Accessed November 16, 2018.

Notes

References

{{authority control State parks of California Diablo Range Parks in Merced County, California Parks in Santa Clara County, California Parks in the San Joaquin Valley Parks in the San Francisco Bay Area Protected areas established in 1997