Redwood Forest in California Returned to Indigenous Tribes


Hidden in Northern California’s Mendocino County, the 523-acre rugged forest is filled with ghostly stumps of ancient alder trees harvested during a logging that wiped out more than 90 percent of West Coast species. But the nearly 200 acres are still dense with old redwoods freed from logging.

The land was a hunting, fishing and ceremonial site until indigenous tribes such as the Sinkyone were driven out by generations of European settlers. On Tuesday, a California nonprofit dedicated to preserving and preserving sequoias announced that it is reuniting the land and its original residents.

The group, called the Redwoods League, which can purchase the forest with corporate donations in 2020, said it has transferred ownership of the 523-acre property to the Intertribal Sinkyone Wilderness Council, which is made up of 10 indigenous tribes whose ancestors are “Ancestors.” was forcibly removed from their land by European-American settlers, according to description from league.

The tribes will serve as guardians of the land in partnership with the Save the Sequoias League, which has been protecting and restoring sequoia forests since 1918.

basically, “We believed that the best way to permanently protect and improve these lands was through tribal administration,” he said. “In the process, we have the opportunity to restore. balance in the ecosystem and its dependent communities.

For over 175 years, members of the tribes represented by the council had no access to the sacred lands they used for hunting, fishing, and ceremonies.

“It’s rare for these lands to return to the original peoples of these places,” Hawk Rosales, an indigenous land advocate and a former executive director of the Intertribal Sinkyone Wildlife Council, said in an interview Tuesday.

“We have a intergenerational commitment and a goal to preserve this land and in doing so preserve and revitalize tribal cultural lifestyles,” he added.

As part of the deal, the land that was known as Andersonia West before the purchase will be named Tc’ih-Léh-Dûñ (pronounced tsih-ih-LEY-duhn).), it means “Fish Run Place” in Sinkyone language.

“The renaming of the Tc’ih-Léh-Dûñ property lets people know that this is a holy place; “This is a place for our Indigenous people,” said Crista Ray, a board member of the Sinkyone Council. “It lets them know that there is a language and that there was a people who lived there long ago.”

According to the statement, Tc’ih-Léh-Dûñ makes a vital addition to the protected lands on the coast of Sinkyone, about five hours north of San Francisco. The newly acquired land is located west of Sinkyone Wilderness State Park and north of the Intertribal Sinkyone Wilderness, another conservation area acquired by the Sinkyone Council in 1997.

Mr Rosales explained that the council’s aim is to connect and expand the ecologically and culturally linked sequoia forests in the region, “repairing the components of a fragmented and threatened ecosystem”.by colonial settlement.

Sequoia trees are not the only endangered species in the forest. The land is also home to salmon, steelhead trout, marbled murrelets (a small seabird), and northern spotted owls – all listed under the Endangered Species Act.

Since 2006, the Redwoods League has been in talks with a family of California loggers who have owned the land for generations. Mr Holder announced that after years of building a relationship with the family, the league was able to purchase the land for $3.55 million in 2020. The money required for the purchase was donated by Pacific Gas & Electric Company as part of its environmental mitigation program.

The Redwoods League still holds an easement on the property. “Our goal is to make sure we contribute to adding capacity and support as the council advances its stewardship and restoration goals,” said Mr Holder.

This is the second time the Redwoods League has donated land to the council. In 2012, it transferred a 164-acre property north of Tc’ih-Léh-Dûñ, known as the Four Corners, to Sinkyone.

According to Mr. Rosales, the importance of bringing together these culturally important lands is not only to preserve nature, but also to allow tribes to form a stronger bond with their ancestors.

Descendants of these ancestors are among us today in member tribes,” he said. “There are families that trace their ancestry mainly to this place and the surrounding environment. They are ancestral, and this is a way of reaffirming that.”



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