Uvas Creek's streamside habitat provided important resources for the inhabitants of Chitactac. Year-round fresh running water was a major factor in the establishment of a permanent village there. The creek was important for food processing, washing, bathing, and probably swimming during the long hot summers. Both upstream and downstream, it attracted an abundant variety of game mammals, amphibians, birds, and waterfowl that were probably hunted near the village. Because Uvas Creek drains into the Pajaro River, it offered passage for spawning fish such as salmon, suckers, and eels coming from the Pacific Ocean, and other fresh water fish and animals were also abundant. Streamside plants such as willow were used for basketry and medicine. Wild onions were gathered during spring and summer, while elderberries, blackberries, wild grapes, bay nuts, acorns, and buckeye nuts were collected from late summer through fall for food, medicine, and dye.