Ramona's Amazing Pamo Valley

Having been raised in San Diego County's back country, I was pretty surprised when reading accounts of this year's Escondido (California) Christmas Bird Count to learn about a place I'd never heard of before: Pamo Valley.

The excitement for the centered around reports of multiple Lewis's Woodpeckers -- possibly as many as 8 or 10.  That's pretty remarkable for a bird that according to the SD Bird Atlas (Unitt) has only been reported on three of 17 Escondido (California) Christmas Bird Counts (1986 to 2001).

Adding to the allure of Pamo Valley were additional reports of multiple Golden Eagles, many Lark Sparrows, and Western Bluebirds together with Mountain Bluebirds which the Atlas describes as "highly irregular in southern California, usually localized and uncommon").  Once we'd heard all that, it wasn't tough to replace Ramona Grasslands on our 3d Annual New Year's Day Surf-to-Sand Cross-County Bird Trek.

Based on comments from other folks we ran into on New Year's Day, we aren't the only local birders who weren't aware of Pamo Valley.  So what's the story with this fantastic place?

According to a 2011 story in the Manchester Dis-United, most of the valley bottom is owned by the City of San Diego public utilities department’s enterprise water fund.  The city acquired the land in the 1950s as a reservoir site.  Uh oh.

While there are no plans to build a reservoir here now, the story notes that "there are no other good reservoir sites left in San Diego County."  Meanwhile, the city leases the land to a Ramona rancher who caretakes the 3,769 acres while grazing cattle.

The word “Pamo” probably comes from the Diegueno word, “paamuu,” according to “California Place Names” by Erwin G. Gudde and William Bright and citing an Indian rancheria called Pamo in Spanish records as early as 1778.  

The name was later adopted by Rancho Valle de Pamo (also called Rancho Santa María), a 17,709-acre grant given in 1843 by Governor Manuel Micheltorena to José Joaquín Ortega and Edward Stokes^.  The grant occupied the Santa Maria Valley and was centered on present-day Ramona.  

With the cession of California to the United States following the Mexican–American War, the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo provided that such land grants would be honored.  As required by the Land Act of 1851, a claim for Rancho Valle de Pamo was filed with the Public Land Commission and the grant was patented to José Joaquín Ortega and Eduardo Stokes in 1872.

Diseño del Rancho Valle de Pamo showing drainage, roads, etc.

Pen-and-ink and pencil on tracing paper from U.S. District Court

UC Berkeley, Bancroft Library

   

The land changed hands several more times until it was acquired in 1886 by Milton Santee, a Los Angeles civil engineer and land developer. Santee started the Santa Maria Land and Water Company and subdivided what is now the townsite of Ramona.  Thankfully, Pamo Valley was too far off the beaten path to become a target for development.

Pamo Valley is surrounded by 4,052-foot-high Black Mountain to the east, 4,221-foot-high Pine Mountain to the north and Orosco Ridge to the west.  Both Santa Ysabel Creek and Temescal Creek run through the valley, the former being a tributary of the San Dieguito River that runs from Volcan Mountain near Julian to the ocean near Del Mar. Temescal Creek flows into the San Luis Rey River.