This name was given to the area by Spanish and later Mexican settlers who observed the indigenous Saclan peoples' method of trapping herds of Tule elk and deer using the steep canyons on the ridge.

Las Trampas ridge creates a rain shadow leading to lower rainfall and higher average temperatures in the San Ramon Valley than areas further west.

[3] Multiple trails maintained by the East Bay Regional Park District ascend the ridge through a variety of habitat types from the surrounding suburbs.

[5][6] In past millennia, the area now occupied by Las Trampas Ridge was the floor of a shallow coastal sea with abundant marine life.

This is evidenced by fossilized mollusks and other sea life preserved in outcrops of the Briones sandstone along much of the high elevation portion of the ridge.

Las Trampas Ridge exists at the intersection of multiple microclimates and is thus host to a number of different habitats ranging from moist coastal California oak woodland to grasslands, savanna and chaparral.

Exposed west and south facing slopes are often covered in annual grasslands and chaparral.Las Trampas Ridge and its surroundings represent one of the last large areas of undeveloped land left in the East Bay, and for this reason it is an exceedingly important and sensitive habitat.

Black-tailed deer, coyote, bobcats, gray foxes and a variety of other mammal species inhabit Las Trampas Ridge in great numbers.