A trip through northern California from the Oregon border to Yosemite reveals a diverse collection of natural and curated landscapes. Persistent smoke from wildfires, especially further south, presents a constant reminder that climate change is a mandatory consideration for any investment and occupancy in the region.

Sheepy Ridge Ranch

Sheepy Ridge Ranch is a farm near the Oregon border. The un-irrigated areas are dry and dusty with little growth. Well water creates luscious meadows of alfalfa; some wheat grows outside of the irrigated crop circles as a remnant of the winter farming pattern. A few cows forage in the fields and the remaining crop is shipped for use as cow feed. The farm is nestled between the Lower Klamath and Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuges.

Rusted steel pipes mark an old fenceA few cows graze in a dry pastureShrubby growth near the wildlife refugeCow bonesIrrigated field of alfalfaFlowering alfalfaThe ridge…