Cummings Valley is in California's

Tehachapi Mountains The Tehachapi Mountains (; Kawaiisu: ''Tihachipia'', meaning "hard climb") are a mountain range in the Transverse Ranges system of California in the Western United States. The range extends for approximately in southern Kern County and northwe ...

. Cummings Valley was settled by the

Kawaiisu The Kawaiisu Nation (pronounced: "ka-wai-ah-soo") are a tribe of indigenous people of California in the United States. The Kawaiisu Nation is the only treatied tribe in California, Ratified Treaty (No. 256), 9 Stat. 984, Dec. 30, 1849. This Tr ...

people before the arrival of

white Americans White Americans (sometimes also called Caucasian Americans) are Americans who identify as white people. In a more official sense, the United States Census Bureau, which collects demographic data on Americans, defines "white" as " person hav ...

, largely of Irish originPen In Hand: Ireland in Tehachapi — a touch of Erin
by John Hammond. ''Tehachapi News''. September 1, 2016. Accessed June 3, 2022., in the 1850s.TCCWD History
" Tehachapi-Cummings County Water District. Accessed June 3, 2022. The region's agriculture began with

livestock Livestock are the Domestication, domesticated animals that are raised in an Agriculture, agricultural setting to provide labour and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, Egg as food, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The t ...

and

dry farming Dry or dryness most often refers to: * Lack of rainfall, which may refer to **Arid regions **Drought * Dry or dry area, relating to legal prohibition of selling, serving, or imbibing alcoholic beverages * Dry humor, deadpan * Dryness (medical) ...

as water was not imported until 1973. This water consists of 20,000 acre-feet of water annually from the

State Water Project The California State Water Project, commonly known as the SWP, is a state water management project in the U.S. state of California under the supervision of the California Department of Water Resources. The SWP is one of the largest public water ...

pumped 3,425 vertical feet from the

Grapevine ''Vitis'' (grapevine) is a genus of 81 accepted species of vining plants in the flowering plant family Vitaceae. The genus consists of species predominantly from the Northern Hemisphere. It is economically important as the source of grapes, bot ...

area. These imports, including their use to recharge the natural

water basin A drainage basin is an area of land in which all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...

have been impacted by the ongoing climate-change-caused

megadrought A megadrought is an exceptionally severe drought, lasting for many years and covering a wide area. Definition There is no exact definition of a megadrought. The term was first used by Connie Woodhouse and Jonathan Overpeck in their 1998 pap ...

. Agriculture remains a large part of the Cummings Valley economy, including

greenhouse A greenhouse is a structure that is designed to regulate the temperature and humidity of the environment inside. There are different types of greenhouses, but they all have large areas covered with transparent materials that let sunlight pass an ...

s and

vineyard A vineyard ( , ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines. Many vineyards exist for winemaking; others for the production of raisins, table grapes, and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is kno ...

s. Stallion Springs and the

California Correctional Institution California Correctional Institution (CCI) is a Supermax prison, supermax List of California state prisons, state prison in the city of Tehachapi, California, Tehachapi in Southern California. CCI is sometimes referred to as "Tehachapi prison" or ...

are both located in Cummings Valley. The dominant geographical feature in Cummings Valley is Cummings Mountain to the southeast. Many portions of the valley retain their

valley oak ''Quercus lobata'', commonly called the valley oak or roble, is the largest of the California oaks. It is endemic to the state, growing in interior valleys and foothills from Siskiyou to San Diego counties. Deciduous, it requires year-round grou ...

-dominated, natural

savannah A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) biome and ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach th ...

state. Other

oak An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisp ...

s in Cummings Valley include black oaks.Black Oaks: a higher elevation Tehachapi oak that gets all dressed up for autumn
by John Hammond. ''Tehachapi News''. October 14, 2017. Accessed June 3, 2022.

Notes

References

Geography of California Tehachapi Mountains Valleys of Kern County, California {{KernCountyCA-geo-stub