American Indian Responses to
Environmental Challenges

Campo Kumeyaay Nation
menu icon for mobile
close menu icon
1. Not started

Our Challenge

There have been many changes to the Campo Kumeyaay homelands. Wetland areas and the water supply have been decimated by years of cattle grazing and other factors.

Key Terms

  • Disturbed area

    An area where an event or series of events have disrupted the ecosystem, community, or population structure, and altered the physical environment.

  • Non-native plants

    Plants that are not typically found in an area, but have been introduced through disruption to the ecosystem, including human activity.

  • Riparian

    Related to the bank of a river or stream.

  • Vegetation

    Plants.

2. Not started

Explore: Kumeyaay Land Erosion Causes

Kumeyaay homelands changed greatly after Europeans and Americans arrived. The Kumeyaay could no longer practice the land management techniques that had worked so well for them. Roll over the highlighted spots to learn more.

Kumeyaay homelands changed greatly after Europeans and Americans arrived. The Kumeyaay could no longer practice the land management techniques that had worked so well for them. Roll over or touch the highlighted spots to learn more.

Even large oak trees were affected by cattle grazing. Because cattle ate small seedlings, there were no young trees to replace the old ones when they died.

Settlers cut down oak trees for building material and to make room for cattle and farms.

The Spanish and Americans brought cattle with them. Cattle ate grasses and other small plants more quickly than they grow back through their natural cycle.

Farmers and ranchers sometimes drained water from natural wetlands to create more land for crops and livestock. They used equipment to carve channels so the water would flow away.

As plant life disappeared from the wetlands, so did water. When heavy rains came, the water rushed across the land and carved out a large opening in the land that soon dried up.

3. Question 1: Not started Question 2: Not started Question 3: Not started

Try These Questions

In the video it says that people now must dig 1000-foot-deep wells to reach water that they used to reach with 200-foot wells. Why is the land so much drier now?
A) People cut channels in the wetlands to drain the water.
B) The weather is much hotter than it was years ago.
C) Native plants, such as oaks and willows have died off.
D) A and C
Which of the following statements is true about cattle grazing on Kumeyaay lands?
San Diego mission
A) The Spanish first introduced cattle to the area in the 1700s.
Cattle
B) Americans greatly expanded the land used for cattle grazing.
Destroyed habitat
C) Cattle grazing disturbed the land. Water and native plants disappeared.
All of the above
D) All of the above
True or false? The lack of oak trees, both young and old, is a sign that the landscape is distressed.
Landscape
True
False
Submit your answer

Story Project Planner

Take Notes for Story Project

Close

Take notes and save images to help answer these questions. Your images and notes will be saved to the Story Project where you can use them to create your own slideshow.