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Human Land Use in Cold Canyon

Stebbins Cold Canyon Reserve is one of 26 reserves in the University of California Natural Reserve System. Today's use of Cold Canyon by people as a research area and hiking spot spans only a short amount of time when compared to the canyon's entire human history. The dilapidated foundation of the Vlahos homestead in the center of the reserve reminds us of the Canyon’s relatively recent use as a ranch, but very few signs remain to tell us about the use of Cold Canyon by native Americans that dates back at least 4000 years. 

Native Americans.   The area was once home to the hunter gatherer society of the Southern Patwin people. Though information on the Southern Patwin is limited, the Wintu culture has given historians a reliable source to recount Southern Patwin life. Until the first settlers arrived near Cold Canyon, Southern Patwin used the region to hunt rabbits, grizzly bears, mule deer, tule elk, antelope and other game. The land, as it still does today, supported a wide array of flora that were used by the native people of the region. On a hike through the canyon you can still find many of the plants utilized by the Patwin people.  In addition, arrowheads have been found in the vicinity of Cold Canyon along Putah Creek and the hole in a boulder found along the Cold Creek is actually a mortar that native Americans cut in the rock. Using a bone or a rock as a pestle, they used the mortar to grind acorns and other foods. 

As recently as 1838, the Patwin still lived along Putah Creek in large numbers, but by 1877 they were gone, forced out by Mexican and Spanish settlers during the period of land grant rancheros. In 1848, with the end of the Mexican American War, California was ceded to the United States. California received statehood in 1850 and in 1852 the area that included Cold Canyon was legally defined as unappropriated unreserved public land. 

The Homestead.  The Homestead Act of 1862 defined the region as stock raising land in 1916, and in 1938 John Vlahos was granted the land for goat and cattle grazing. In order to raise collateral for his mortgage of $2500.00, he  made 2000 pounds of goat cheese and a cold storage building in a cool grove by the creek. The cold store, whose foundation still exists, helps to explain the origin of the Cold Canyon name. The cold store, the foundation of the Vlahos’ house, some rusted remnants of an old vehicle, and a well are all that remain of the homestead.

Monticello Dam. 
Immediately upstream of Cold Creek's outlet to Putah Creek stands the massive wall of Monticello Dam. In the early 1900's, Berryessa Valley (the area now underneath Lake Berryessa) was a flat, fertile valley bisected by Putah Creek. In the center stood the town of Monticello, with a population of 250, and surrounded by 12,000 acres of farmland. Like the rest of Napa and Solano counties at the time, Berryessa Valley was farmed without the aid of irrigation. As farmers in many parts of the Central Valley constructed massive irrigation systems for their crops, dry-farmed produce quickly became uncompetitive in the market.


The farming interests in the region began championing dam construction to make local produce competitive. The construction of a dam at the narrow point of the Putah Creek Canyon, known as Devil's Gate, was first proposed in 1916, but several other dams were proposed on both Putah and Cache creeks in the ensuing decades. A proposal by the Solano Water Council to build a 304-foot dam at Devil's Gate became increasingly populara and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation took over control of the project in 1945. The purposes for this dam were (1) to store water in Berryessa Reservoir for agricultural, urban, industrial, and military uses, (2) to reduce flooding of lands along lower Putah Creek, and (3) to provide recreational benefits. As construction of Monticello Dam became increasingly likely, the Winters Farm Bureau Center, the Yolo County Chamber of Commerce, the Winters Service Club, and the Yolo County Board of Supervisors each raised opposition to the project. Such opposition might today be phrased in terms of altered water regimes or disrupted plant and animal communities. However, in the mid-1940's, concerns about the dam centered around water prices and fair distribution of water to various groups. Local groups also opposed both the displacement of Monticello residents and the building of a dam in an earthquake zone. At the last minute, opposition by Solano County farmers and state authorities caused the height of the dam to be reduced from 304 to 270 feet, which correspondingly reduced the resevoir capacity from 2.2 to 1.6 million acre feet of water. The Secretary of the Interior approved the Solano Project, as the dam construction was known, in 1948. By 1957, the dam was complete, and by 1963, Lake Berryessa had filled completely. (Photo of dam construction)

Construction of the dam has probably affected use of Cold Canyon by animals. A dam and highway across Devil's Gate effectively barred stream-associated animal species from dispersing between Cold Canyon and regions upstream. No good records of vertebrate populations in the region exist before construction of the dam, but it is possible that construction of the dam, the reservoir, and Route 128 has isolated Cold Canyon from regions to the north and west.

It is also possible that low flows created by limited water releases from the resevoir have eliminated some of the aquatic species that may have seasonally used the creek. Until recently, Putah Creek below Solano Dam (further downstream) was provided with just a small amount of water during the dry season. As a result, most of the creek dried up in the summer of 1989 (a drought year), killing thousands of fish and withering riparian vegetation. Similar events may have eliminated some species that swam into Cold Creek during the winter.

Creation of the Reserve.   In 1968 John Vlahos sold part of his land to Paul Leiter. The Leiters sold this portion of the reserve to the University in 1979 and Petro and Virginia Vlahos sold the remainder to the University in 1984. Named in honor of Dr. G. Ledyard Stebbins, Professor Emeritus in the Department of Genetics, U.C.D., the reserve was appropriated for the purpose of preserving the land for teaching and research.

Stebbins Cold Canyon Reserve has been used by humans continuously for at least 4,000 years, but it retains many of its original characteristics. The plant and animal communities are largely the same as they have been since the first Native Americans arrived in this area, which is why the area was deemed worthy of preservation. 

Still, recent human activity has left a strong mark on the landscape. The trail through the reserve is the remains of a road built by John Vlahos. The hills above you are ribbed with the trails created by several hundred years of livestock grazing, most recently the Vlahos goat herd. Natural fires were suppressed for years until there was so much dead wood lying around that major fires, such as one that swept through the reserve in 1988, became inevitable. Some of the patches in the hillside vegetation were created by "hot spots" in the 1988 fire. 

More subtle were the effects of the elimination of the grizzly bear as a major predator and earth mover in the area. In recent years, recreational users have created many unauthorized trails through the reserve and increased erosion of the official trails (which were improved by the California Conservation Corps in 1989). The number of visitors to the canyon varies consistently with favorable weather, but the trails are open all year round, and become well-worn after the winter rains. As you walk up the trail, keep these changes in mind and think of the effects on wildlife that your own presence on the reserve is having.

Last Updated 03/09/06