The Land We Live On: History and Perspectives of East Bay Natural Areas
If you ask Berkeley students where they like to hike, chances are that someone will mention the Berkeley Fire Trails or Tilden Regional Park. These areas are prominent fixtures in Berkeley student life as hotspots for hikers, runners, nature-lovers, and overworked students alike, but there is much more to them than meets the eye. There is history behind Berkeley’s natural spaces - and all of California - that is valuable and important to be conscious of when considering their resilience in the face of forces such as global warming and the climate crisis which already impact our daily lives.
UC Berkeley is situated on land stolen from Ohlone Indigenous people. Ohlone Tribes lived in the East Bay for thousands of years, speaking over 40 different languages and living close to water sources, making use of the rich assemblage of plants and animals that populated the East Bay. It wasn’t until the 1770s that Spanish explorers began to establish presidios - armed military settlements - and missions along many parts of California that Ohlone communities were threatened. Many Indigenous individuals were pressured to join missions, and through the processes of extreme cultural erasure, exploitation through physical labor, and forced assimilation, Spanish systems and institutions largely displaced the structures of Indigenous communities. Californian Indigenous people were also exposed to extremely virulent diseases such as smallpox, measles, and syphilis which devastated Indigenous populations. Travel of infected individuals between missionaries exacerbated already high rates of transmission, and between 1769 and 1836, over 200,000 Indigenous people died from infectious disease in California alone.
Modern-day California lay in a swath of land largely under the control of Spanish colonizers until 1821, when the Mexican War of Independence resulted in a transition of power from Spain to Mexico, after which Mexico assumed control over California. Mexico was challenged in 1846 when the United States officially declared war against Mexico, and after a two-year-long struggle, the conflict ended with the signing of the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo which ceded California, New Mexico, and Texas to the United States in exchange for $15 million. Following US acquisition of California, Indigenous communities still residing in California were met with brutality and force that shaped what is known as the California Genocide. Largely facilitated by US and Californian governments through the distribution of weapons and the setting of bounties, this genocide involved the murders of thousands of Indigenous people at the hands of Californian settlers. Following the California Genocide, discriminatory policies and statewide practices continued the federal and Californian governments’ active oppression of Indigenous groups and other people of color living in California.
By the early 1900s, the East Bay, along with many other parts of California, was undergoing rapid development as people flooded into California in search of gold and opportunity. One man, named Frank Havens, capitalized on what he believed to be the limitless economic opportunities offered to him by the East Bay, and Havens became one of the most prominent and problematic engineers of Berkeley society at the time. Havens was involved in founding a number of Berkeley institutions, such as the People’s Water Company, public transit, utilities, and property development, among others. Although some of his public infrastructure contributions undoubtedly benefited the lives and livelihoods of Bay Area residents, many of his projects had extremely negative consequences on the local ecology. For example, Haven is almost single-handedly responsible for the introduction and proliferation of eucalyptus trees in Berkeley natural areas, an initiative that has proven consequential for many species in the Bay Area. Even after cattle grazing of East Bay natural areas ended in the 1960’s, and areas like Tilden Park were purchased and protected by UC Berkeley and the East Bay Regional Park District, the threats posed by eucalyptuses persisted, and these threats continue to this day.
Eucalyptuses, native to Australia, pose serious threats to native flora and fauna in a number of ways, in particular their tendency to explode upon ignition and spread embers far and wide. Besides posing an extreme fire risk, these trees also tend to exist in water-sucking monocultures, such as those found along certain stretches of the Fire Trails and The Eucalyptus Grove found on campus. When walking along the Fire Trails, people often see long, dry, tangled masses of eucalyptus bark strips along the trail and in the trees from which they are discarded. Concern over the fire hazard posed by these trees has spurred initiatives to remove the thousands of Tasmanian blue gum eucalyptuses that populate Berkeley’s forested areas, but the removal of these trees has proven extremely difficult. These trees have been likened to the mythical hydra because cutting down their trunks does not kill them, and they merely grow back over time. Efforts to act preventatively with regards to the threats posed by eucalyptuses are ongoing as individuals today continue to grapple with the challenges that have arisen due to a legacy of ecologic mismanagement.
Eucalyptus Trees along the Berkeley Fire Trails
Besides the introduction of non-native eucalyptus, Californians have also historically made a habit of releasing other species to the Bay Area region, including the red fox which, following its introduction for hunting and fur industry purposes, has greatly disturbed local native bird populations such as the Lightfooted Ridgway's Rail. A number of other introduced species have upturned countless other ecosystems in the Bay Area, including in Golden Gate Park where invasive plant species have infiltrated around 85% of the park’s plant communities. Even the wild turkeys that are so often seen on campus, descendants of turkey populations introduced for hunting in the early 1900s, are believed to compete with other bird species such as the native California quail.
Another factor casting doubt on the future sustainability of East Bay natural areas is its susceptibility to fire. The presence of extremely flammable and tightly packed eucalyptus monocultures is cause for serious concern, particularly as temperatures rise and precipitation patterns become less predictable as climate change progresses. Recurring fire seasons have wiped out neighborhoods and homes, have destroyed acres of land, and have become an annual cause for school-day cancellations during the academic year. Researchers predict that these devastating trends are set to worsen in the future, an ominous prediction for the Bay Area and other regions around the world.
Recent clearing of areas near Grizzly Peak for fire prevention purposes.
Though parks such as Tilden Regional Park and the Berkeley Fire Trails are frequented by thousands of students and community members alike, the history of the natural spaces of the East Bay and of California as a whole is not widely known or discussed. In order to prepare for an uncertain ecological future it is vital that we engage critically with the history of the East Bay and consider the events that have shaped the trails we hike and the places we visit. We are not the first people to set foot here, and, hopefully, we will not be the last.
