California Condor Eden McMillan 24 June 1963 We remained in our bags until 8:00 A.M. as the cold North Wind, which shook our Cabin all last night still blew this morning and we wanted to leave this Cabin at a time when Condor might be flying. We saddled and packed and were away on the roadway by 8:30 A.M.. Even though we kept very alert and observant during the two and one quarter hour ride to our car at Santa Barbara Potreros we saw no large Raptorial birds saving one hawklike bird, At a great distance, that by its quick [illegible] offered ample evidence that it could not have been a Condor. Loading our horses we drove down Santa Barbara Canyon to the home of Gertrude Reyes who told us that no Condor had been seen in her area for several years. But that formally, just after they had taken over the Santa Barbara Canyon and accompanying [illegible] on top of the Sierra Madre ridge in 1944, from the Shadden family who formally operated this area, that many Condor used to be seen quite often. Mrs. Reyes was wondering if the Condors had vanished somewhere. Formally, the Sisquoc Ranch ran Cattle the full length of the Sisquoc River and all its tributaries, from the Sisquoc Ranch holdings on up to the rivers headwaters. In 1927 the last of several fires raged through the Sisquoc River upper drainage- This created ample food for livestock and Deer- This Created, in turn, ample food for Condor. No Cattle now graze the upper Sisquoc River basin and the Forest Service has drastically Cut the Number of Livestock Ranchers can Pasture on the forest lands. This practice of the Forest Service in limiting numbers of animals grazing and the extensive growth of Chaparral Cover over most of the area drastically Limits the amount of food available to Condor in this area Today.