Las Trampas Wilderness Regional Preserve

Like many wilderness preserves surrounding the San Francisco Bay, the Las Trampas Wilderness Regional Preserve is cattle pasture.

(Note the sign on the gate.)

The Spanish settlers in the neighboring valley named this area “Las Trampas” (“the traps”) after the hunting practices of the native people who lived here. They drove large prey animals into canyons out of which they could not escape – traps. In a way, the current use of the land does not differ much.