Much of the Los Angeles County portion of the Antelope Valley is laid out in streets at one-mile intervals.

Poppy season depends completely on the precipitation, but a good bloom can be killed off by the unusual weather in the late winter and early spring.

Now, the sighting of a pronghorn is rare, although a small number remain in the western portion of the valley.

Common game species in the Antelope Valley include mule deer and mountain quail.

While aqueducts supply additional water that meets increasing human demand for agricultural, industrial, and domestic uses, diversion of water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta in northern California has caused and causes adverse environmental and social effects in the delta: "Over decades, [the] competing uses for water supply and habitat have jeopardized the Delta's ability to meet either need.

All stakeholders agree the estuary is in trouble and requires long-term solutions to ensure reliable, quality water supplies and a healthy ecosystem.

"[6] The Antelope Valley's population growth and development place considerable stress on the local and regional water systems.

According to David Leighton of the United States Geological Survey: "A deliberate management effort will be required to meet future water demand in the Antelope Valley without incurring significant economic and environmental costs associated with overuse of the ground-water resource.

Father Francisco Garcés, a Spanish Franciscan friar, is believed to have traveled the west end of the valley in 1776.

The Spanish established El Camino Viejo through the western part of the valley between Los Angeles and the missions of the San Francisco Bay in the 1780s.

Major retail has followed the population influx, centered on Palmdale's Antelope Valley Mall.

[18] Edwards Air Force Base lies east of Rosamond, 37 miles (60 km) northeast of Palmdale.

Although NASA later built a landing strip at Kennedy Space Center, Edwards was retained as the backup in case of bad weather at Cape Canaveral.

[20] NASA Neil A. Armstrong Flight Research Center is a tenant organization at Edwards AFB.

[21] U. S. Air Force Plant 42 in northeast Palmdale is home to Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, and BAE Systems, among other aerospace-related companies.

The spaceport is famous as the base of operations for Scaled Composites, the company that designed SpaceShipOne and won the X-Prize.

Much of the work done at these facilities is performed in coordination with Edwards Air Force Base and the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center (see above), from the creation and testing of proof-of-concept X-planes, to Space Shuttle operations, to the manufacturing and integration and testing of new military aviation equipment.

As housing tracts continue to build in the middle of the valley, the farm operations are found farther to the west and east sides than in earlier decades.

Antelope Valley Indian Museum State Historic Park has been featured in films such as The Magnificent Seven Ride!