page_title: Cosumnes River Preserve
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Cosumnes River Preserve / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Cosumnes River Preserve — riparian woodlands habitat. In the eastern Central Valley — Sacramento County, California.
context_page_description: The Cosumnes River Preserve is a nature preserve of 46,000 acres located 20 miles south of Sacramento, in the US state of California. The preserve protects a Central Valley remnant that once contained one of the largest expanses of oak tree savanna, riparian oak forest and wetland habitat in North America. Agricultural development has changed the landscape from groves of oaks and tule marshes to productive farmlands.
  The Cosumnes River is the last remaining free-flowing river in California's Central Valley, with the preserve located on the river's lower reach where it joins the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta tidelands. The area supports a diverse range of plant and animal life, including three species of oak as well as rare plants like the endemic northern California black walnut. Notable features include the sandhill crane fall migration and the Tall Forest in Wood Duck Slough. More than 250 bird species, more than 40 fish species, and some 230 plant species have been identified here.
  Located on the bird migration route, the Pacific Flyway, the preserve is designated an Important Bird Area by the American Bird Conservancy and National Audubon Society.
context_section_description: The Miwok Native American tribe settled the area around the Cosumnes River Preserve many centuries ago. They survived up through the 1900s with a 1910 census counting 670 Miwok Native Americans left. According to a 1770 estimate, there were approximately 9000 Miwok present. Population density for the Miwok tribe was about 10 persons per square mile which may have been the most out of any California tribe. The entire Miwok tribe consisted of 28 small groups which could range from 300 to 475 people. The Miwok people ate a diet consisting of acorns, various types of other seeds, deer, and fish. The local Miwok people practiced burning and other management practices to shape the land to create more opportunity for food. Through these methods of enhancing floodplains in the area, fish species may have had lower mortality rates and increased growth. After the mid 1700s, the Miwok way of life started to change with the arrival of the Spanish.
  Around 1770, a small group consisting of Spanish explorers decided that the Cosumnes River Preserve and other places within the Central Valley was a perfect pasture for grazing animals. Trappers came into the area around the preserve in the early 1800s but found that there was no place to settle and the fur trapping was not worth it. The Mexican government started issuing land grants in 1844 and John Sutter who was a European immigrant was one of the first to colonize the Cosumnes River area. John Sutter founded the colony New Helvetia and soon some of his assistants moved out to the Cosumnes River Preserve area. Once the California gold rush started in 1848, many miners settled in along the Cosumnes River hoping to find gold and get rich. Once realizing that there wasn't very much gold in the region, they dammed the river and changed the landscape to grow hay, wheat, and various types of fruit. The Miwok people lost sources of food that they relied on and soon after villages and burial grounds were destroyed. Shortly after, the Miwok moved out of the region where the Cosumnes River Preserve is and in 1999, the last person to spoke Plains Miwuk died.
  The fast-disappearing valley oak (Quercus lobata) tree of California's Central Valley prompted The Nature Conservancy, a nonprofit conservation organization, to find and protect these trees from the rapid urban growth in the 1980s. After surveying the entire valley, the best stands were found on the lower Cosumnes River and a preserve of 800 acres (3.2 km²) was established in 1987. With further study, scientists better understood the river-oak forest relationship; the "swamp oak" is another name for the valley oak because it thrives on deep, alluvial soils (which also makes good farmland) that the river deposits with seasonal flooding.  The Conservancy realized that it needed a larger, broader view that included the river, floodplains, the whole watershed. As a result, in 1993, the conservancy moved beyond its hallmark of outright land purchases and into cooperative agreements with farmers, water-and flood control agencies, and shared in management responsibility with federal, state and local land agencies toward the goal of protecting a watershed of 1,200 square miles (3,100 km²) in size.
  
  Some partners in the cooperative agreement include: US Bureau of Land Management, California Department of Water Resources, California State Lands Commission, Sacramento County Department of Regional Parks, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, Wildlife Conservation Board, Ducks Unlimited, Inc. and private landowners.
  
  In 1998, the Howard Ranch, located within the watershed area, was put up for sale. The ranch contains important wetlands, including vernal pools, and the conservancy purchased the property of 13,000 acres (53 km²) property using a combination of grants and loans. The loans included funds from the federal Clean Water Act's State Revolving Fund. This was the first time these funds had been used to purchase and protect wetlands. 
  Currently, the preserve is more than 46,000 acres (190 km²) with educational and scientific studies being condu
caption: Cosumnes River riparian woodland
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