Streams, Wetlands, and Woodlands in the Napa Valley

Book excerpt: Historical records can provide valuable information about native habitats and landscapes, but are rarely available to scientists and managers for restoration efforts. Using methods developed over the previous decade, we compiled and synthesized a heterogeneous array of sources to reconstruct historical ecological and hydrogeomorphic characteristics of the Napa Valley. Taken together, early maps and surveys, landscape and aerial photography, and textual documents provide a robust picture of conditions in the valley prior to substantial Euro-American modification -- and how they have changed since that time.