Sociocultural Factors Review for the Warm Springs Dam - Lake Sonoma Project Candidate/Critical Habitat Zone Evaluation,

Ethnographic data suggest that the primary Native American use of the study area was for resource procurement. No records were found of early Euro-American settlement in the area. After 1860, the study area began to be settled by homesteaders who raised cattle and later sheep. Lifestyle and economic values have remained relatively constant in the 20th century. Owners have often had recreational motives for purchasing or maintaining their holdings, but ranches have been expected to pay for themselves. Construction of nearby Warm Springs Dam may have considerable impact on CHZ lands. Anticipation of increased land values due to the presence of Lake Sanoma has made the future of the CHZs uncertain. Maintenance of large ranches rests on the economic viability of alternative uses of the land and on the persistence of an undeveloped environment which permits land-owners to continue to enjoy an independent and solitary lifestyle.