Native Nations
Stunt Ranch Reserve is in the Cold Creek watershed on the north-central flank of the Santa Monica Mountains, which has a deep history of Native American inhabitants. Cold Creek Canyon’s eastern ridge marked the interface between two Native nations, the Gabrieleño and Chumash. As a result, a rich deposit of prehistoric artifacts dating from 3,000 B.C. to 1,000 A.D. is at the reserve, representing all significant periods of regional archaeological interest. Since the reserves conception, more than 3,000 artifacts have been cataloged, indicating both seasonal and year-round encampments.
Today, Stunt’s education programs continue to teach visiting students about the Native history of the land. As part of our commitment to Native American engagement, the reserve’s staff seek out opportunities to work with UCLA’s Native American Studies Department and representatives of the Chumash nation and Gabrielino nation. For example, in 2016, the reserve’s staff worked with The Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Mission Indians to rebury ancestral remains and funerary objects stored at UCLA’s Fowler Museum.
UCLA Stunt Ranch Santa Monica Mountains Reserve recognizes its presence on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the Chumash and Gabrieleño peoples. As a facility managed by a land-grant institution, we pay respect to former, present-day, and rising generations of the first peoples and traditional land stewards of the Santa Monica Mountains and LA Basin.
Early Settlement
Spanish colonists settled in the Topanga Canyon area in the late 1700s, but European settlement of the Cold Creek watershed began with the arrival of the Stunt brothers – Harry, Walter, and Ernest. The Stunt brothers homesteaded the reserve land in the late 1800s, where they built a large family cabin and developed a large orchard of various trees. After the death of Walter (1928) and Ernest (1937), Harry Stunt and his sister, Ethel, maintained the land. Harry and Ethel particularly enjoyed supporting outdoor education and frequently invited Cold Creek residents and outdoor enthusiasts, such as Topanga Boy Scout troops, to visit the ranch. Harry died in 1953, and Ethel lived the rest of her life on the ranch. In honor of the Stunt family and their dedication to Santa Monica Mountains education, the reserve and surrounding trails were named after the Stunts.
Early Land Management
Before her death in 1971, Ethel Stunt bequeathed the ranch to Occidental College for use in field instruction. Then, in 1978, the State of California purchased Stunt Ranch, gave administrative responsibility for the site to the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy (SMMC), and opened trails on the property for public hiking. The Stunt High Trail, which crosses through the western portion of the reserve, remains open to the public daily from dawn to dusk for hiking and equestrian use. Eventually, the Cold Creek Docents, a division of the Mountains Restoration Trust, expanded their environmental interpretation activities onto the ranch from the adjacent Cold Creek Canyon Preserve. In 1984, the University of California transferred approximately 400 acres of Santa Monica Mountains land as a trade for the portion of Stunt Ranch that subsequently joined the UC Natural Reserve System (UC Nature) in November 1995. This agreement made Stunt Ranch Santa Monica Mountains Reserve the 32nd site in the UCUC Nature.
Coast live oaks at Stunt Ranch.
Each oak has a memorial plaque dedicated to the Stunt family.
UC UC Nature Reserve
Creating an accessible learning environment at Stunt Ranch was a massive effort for the UC Nature and was set back many times by a series of natural disasters. Before the land transfer to the University of California, the 1993 Malibu-Topanga Fire decimated Stunt Ranch, leaving most vegetation burned and all historical facilities destroyed. Furthermore, winter storms in the years following the fire caused widespread flooding, erosion, landslides, and general damage to the reserve and its roads.
Stunt Ranch Reserve after the 1993 Malibu-Topanga fire
However, with the help of LA County Public Works and the SMMC, the reserve’s primary staff, Director Philip W. Rundel and Project Manager Carol Felixson, worked tirelessly with the UC Nature, UC faculty, and Santa Monica Mountains Researchers to restore the land and create the magnificent learning environment that it is today. Stunt Ranch Santa Monica Mountains Reserve is now one of forty-one UC Nature sites and one of only two UC Nature sites managed by UCLA. Multiple resources have been added to the reserve (e.g. field station, weather station) and it continues to be a magnet for scientific exploration.
Stunt Ranch Santa Monica Mountains Reserve (2024)