This
undated
photo
provided
by Save
the
Redwoods
League
shows
some of
the 523
acres of
redwood
forestland
in
Mendocino
County,
Calif.,
which
was
donated
to the
InterTribal
Sinkyone
Wilderness
Council
for
lasting
protection
and
ongoing
stewardship.
The
conservation
group is
turning
over a
historic
redwood
grove on
the
Northern
California
coast to
the
descendants
of the
original
Native
American
inhabitants.
(Max
Forster/Save
the
Redwoods
League
via AP) |
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In this
photo
provided
by Save
the
Redwoods
League,
InterTribal
Sinkyone
Wilderness
Council
representatives
and Save
the
Redwoods
League
staff
visit
Tc'ih-Léh-Dûñ
in June
2021.
The
conservation
group is
turning
over a
historic
redwood
grove on
the
Northern
California
coast to
the
descendants
of the
original
Native
American
inhabitants.
(Paul
Robert
Wolf
Wilson/Save
the
Redwoods
via AP) |
|
California
redwood
forest
returned
to
native
tribal
group
By
BRIAN
MELLEY
apnews.com
LOS
ANGELES
- The
descendants
of
Native
American
tribes
on the
Northern
California
coast
are
reclaiming
a bit of
their
heritage
that
includes
ancient
redwoods
that
have
stood
since
their
ancestors
walked
the
land.
Save
the
Redwoods
League
planned
to
announce
Tuesday
that it
is
transferring
more
than 500
acres
(202
hectares)
on the
Lost
Coast to
the
InterTribal
Sinkyone
Wilderness
Council.
The
group of
10
tribes
that
have
inhabited
the area
for
thousands
of years
will be
responsible
for
protecting
the land
dubbed
Tc’ih-Léh-Dûñ,
or “Fish
Run
Place,”
in the
Sinkyone
language.
Priscilla
Hunter,
chairwoman
of the
Sinkyone
Council,
said
it’s
fitting
they
will be
caretakers
of the
land
where
her
people
were
removed
or
forced
to flee
before
the
forest
was
largely
stripped
for
timber.
“It’s a
real
blessing,”
said
Hunter,
of the
Coyote
Valley
Band of
Pomo
Indians.
“It’s
like a
healing
for our
ancestors.
I know
our
ancestors
are
happy.
This was
given to
us to
protect.”
The
transfer
marks a
step in
the
growing
Land
Back
movement
to
return
Indigenous
homelands
to the
ancestors
of those
who
lived
there
for
millennia
before
European
settlers
arrived.
The
league
first
worked
with the
Sinkyone
council
when it
transferred
a
164-acre
(66-hectare)
plot
nearby
to the
group in
2012.
The
league
recently
paid $37
million
for a
scenic
5-mile
(8-kilometer)
stretch
of the
rugged
and
forbidding
Lost
Coast
from a
lumber
company
to
protect
it from
logging
and
eventually
open it
up to
the
public.
Opening
access
to the
public
is not a
priority
on the
property
being
transferred
to the
tribal
group
because
it is so
remote,
said Sam
Hodder,
president
and CEO
of the
league.
But it
serves
an
important
puzzle
piece
wedged
between
other
protected
areas.
Steep
hills
rise and
fall to
a
tributary
of the
Eel
River
that has
steelhead
trout
and Coho
salmon.
The
property
was last
logged
about 30
years
ago and
still
has a
large
number
of
old-growth
redwoods,
as well
as
second-growth
trees.
“This is
a
property
where
you can
almost
tangibly
feel
that it
is
healing,
that it
is
recovering,”
Hodder
said.
“You
walk
through
the
forest
and,
even as
you see
the kind
of
ghostly
stumps
of
ancient
trees
that
were
harvested,
you
could
also in
the
foggy
landscape
see the
monsters
that
were
left
behind
as well
as the
young
redwoods
that are
sprouting
from
those
stumps.”
The
league
purchased
the land
two
years
ago for
$3.5
million
funded
by
Pacific
Gas &
Electric
Co. to
provide
habitat
for
endangered
northern
spotted
owl and
marbled
murrelet
to
mitigate
other
environmental
damage
by the
utility.
PG&E
was set
to
emerge
Tuesday
from
five
years of
criminal
probation
for a
2010
explosion
triggered
by its
natural
gas
lines
that
blew up
a San
Bruno
neighborhood
and
killed
eight
people.
It’s
been
blamed
since
2017 for
sparking
more
than 30
wildfires
that
wiped
out more
than
23,000
homes
and
businesses
and
killed
more
than 100
people.
In
an
effort
to
reduce
its
liability
and the
chance
of
vegetation
contacting
power
lines
and
sparking
fires,
PG&E has
been
criticized
for
destroying
many
large
and old
trees.
“Thanks
to Save
the
Redwoods
League
for
seizing
on any
opportunity
to
protect
lands on
the Lost
Coast
that are
vital to
its
conservation,”
said
Michael
Evenson,
vice
president
of the
Lost
Coast
League,
which
advocates
for
protecting
water
and
wildlife
in the
area.
“But
PG&E
getting
a green
merit
badge
after
all the
destruction
they’re
doing
... is
not
palatable.”
Hawk
Rosales,
former
executive
director
of the
council,
said the
new
property
adds a
significant
holding
to the
4,000
acres
(1,618.7
hectares)
the
group
protects
for
cultural
and
ecological
purposes.
More
importantly,
it
restores
the
tribal
group’s
role in
caring
for the
land.
“For
so many
decades
tribal
voices
have
been
marginalized
in the
mainstream
conservation
movement,”
Rosales
said.
“It’s
only
until
very
recently
that
they
have
been
invited
to
participate
meaningfully
and to
take a
leadership
role.”
Hodder
said the
league
was
trying
to
remove
some of
the
barriers
to
increase
the
scale of
land
managed
by
tribal
communities
and
return
Indigenous
knowledge
and
practices,
such as
prescribed
fire,
that led
to
healthier
forests.
“These
communities
have
been
stewarding
these
lands
across
thousands
of
years,”
Hodder
said.
“It was
the
exclusion
of that
stewardship
in many
ways
that’s
gotten
us into
the mess
that
we’re
in.”
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