Despite the fact that California Indians lived, gathered, hunted, and managed lowland oak ecosystems for millennia, the land was productive enough in the 1860s to support a new and very intensive land use: modern agriculture. Drawing from an existing legacy of the Indian era – its fertile soils, biodiversity, conserved water, and abundant timber resources – modern agriculture flourished. This chapter characterizes the indigenous food cultivation and management systems that were in place in California's lowland oak ecosystems at European contact.

Harlan (1992:242) reminds us that to develop a sustainable agriculture, “We need to approach the daunting tasks ahead with more humility and take a broader view of the ecosystems we must manage”. Following Harlan, we suggest that indigenous manipulation of plants for food not be viewed in isolation, but rather in a broader context of prehistoric subsistence systems and how these systems fit within and impact dynamic and diverse ecosystems. For example, wildlands contain plant resources for fuel, weapons, clothing, basketry, cordage, tools, dyes, and medicines. Yet vegetation manipulation to augment wild plant populations for these needs is seldom considered in tandem with food getting. By focusing upon one cultural use category, we argue that the multi-dimensionality of human traditional ecological knowledge remains obscured. Native people are viewed as preoccupied with ???getting food???, rather than understanding the structure and function of ecosystems and how they can be modified to provide for all of their needs.