Spanish colonization in the 1700s destroyed traditional Ohlone tribal life and threatened fragile ecosystems. In 1834, Mexico enacted a plan to reduce the areas under mission control, and native people were supposed to receive half of all mission lands, but except for a few land grants to individual families in the South Bay, converted Ohlone people received no land and continued to live and work on large ranchos as vaqueros and servants. After California came under American rule, many new landowners stopped using Indian labor, leaving many with nowhere to go. Ecological damage to ancestral lands increased with large-scale sheep and cattle ranching as grasslands were overgrazed, non-native grasses were introduced, forests were harvested, marshland was developed for agriculture, and many waterways were spoiled by mining and ranching activities. Food resources became limited for many native people, and private ownership, division, and fencing of land restricted traditional hunting, food gathering, and fishing. Life for native Californians was forever changed. Of the estimated one and one-half million Indians living in California in 1769, barely 20,000 were identified between 1900 and 1933. However, families speaking several Ohlone languages continued to live within their traditional territories well into the 20th century, and today many Ohlone Indians still live in this region, work to revitalize cultural ways, have been recognized by state, county, and local governments, and in some cases are seeking restoration as federally recognized tribes.