Santa Rosa Wilderness

Bureau of Land Management Palm Springs South Coast Field Office Palm Springs, CA 92262
Santa Rosa Wilderness
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The Santa Rosa Mountains have been the homeland of hundreds of generations of Cahuilla, whose culture has been described and recorded in numerous publications. Direct evidence links the tribe to this area for at least 3,000 years. Within the Santa Rosas are sacred sites, such as the peak of the Santa Rosa Mountain and Tahquitz Peak, and landscape features which are of great importance to Cahuilla history. Within the mountain range, Cahulla villages were generally located in or near the mouth of a canyon or in a valley, and in some instances there were both summer and winter villages with the former being at higher elevations and the latter closer to the valley floor. A network of trails connect village sites, campsites, and other areas of importance. Cahuilla lived in the Santa Rosas until the late 19th century, by which time most Cahuilla had moved to nearby reservations or the Coachella Valley, and contemporary Cahuilla have strong feelings and concern for their ancestral homeland. The Santa Rosas have great heritage value to the Cahuilla and many sites are of National Register quality. The linked document contains descriptions of some of the more significant prehistoric and historic sites in the Santa Rosa Mountains.