Yurok tribe reclaims land in California's largest land-back project
The Yurok Tribe has regained nearly 189 square kilometres of ancestral forestland along the Klamath River in northern California, more than doubling their land holdings and marking the largest land-back conservation deal in state history.
The tribe plans to restore the landscape through traditional stewardship methods such as controlled burns, prairie restoration, invasive species removal and tree planting, efforts that will also create jobs for the tribe's 5,000 members.
"We're thrilled to announce that we've transferred the final phase of land to the Yurok tribe and completed creation of the Blue Creek Salmon Sanctuary and the Yurok tribal community forest," said Josh Kling, conservation director at Western Rivers Conservancy.
He added, "This is the single largest land-back project of lands going back to a tribe in the entire state of California. 47,000 acres is now under the ownership and stewardship of the Yurok tribe."
The return of these lands is part of the broader Land Back movement, which seeks to restore Indigenous ownership and stewardship of traditional territories.
Over the past decade, around 12,000 square kilometres of land has been returned to tribes across 15 states through federal programmes aided by conservation organisations.
For the Yurok, 90% of whose territory was seized during the Gold Rush era, reclaiming this land holds deep significance.
"Re-acquiring landscapes like this allows us to heal, to work towards healing a wound that was inflicted not only on the lands but our hearts when these lands were taken away from us," said Tiana Williams-Clausen, director of the Yurok Tribe's wildlife department.
She emphasised Blue Creek's importance, calling it "one of the best and clearest and healthiest of tributaries that go into the Klamath River, which is the heart of Yurok Country," but noted it has faced destructive management for years.
Studies increasingly show that forests stewarded by Indigenous peoples are healthier, more biodiverse and more resilient, highlighting the critical role of traditional ecological knowledge in combating climate change.
Beth Rose Middleton Manning, a Native American Studies professor at UC Davis, said "Indigenous people's perspective - living in relation with the lands, waterways and wildlife - is becoming widely recognised and is a stark contrast to Western views."
Despite this landmark land-back project, however, Yurok Tribe members know it's going to take decades of work for these lands and waterways to heal.
New Zealand's parliament suspended three lawmakers on Thursday who performed a Māori haka in protest against a controversial proposed law that critics said would reverse indigenous rights.
Hana-Rāwhiti Maipi-Clarke received a seven-day ban and the leaders of her political party, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and Rawiri Waititi, were barred for 21 days.
Their political party, Te Pāti Māori, also known as the Māori Party, is a left-wing political group in New Zealand advocating for minority Māori rights.
A parliamentary privilege committee recommended that the trio be suspended for acting in "a manner that could have the effect of intimidating a member of the House."
Three days had been the longest ban for a lawmaker from New Zealand's Parliament prior to this, meaning the three-week suspension of Ngarewa-Packer and Rawiri Waititi sets a new record.
The three politicians performed a haka in Parliament in opposition of the widely unpopular Treaty Principles Bill which they said would be damaging to the rights of indigenous peoples.
The bill has since been defeated.
It sought to legally define the principles of the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi, which is the pact signed between Māori leaders and the British Crown during New Zealand's colonisation.
More than 40,000 people protested outside parliament during the bill's first reading last year.
The protest provoked months of debate among lawmakers about what the consequences of the Te Pāti Māori politicians' actions should be and whether New Zealand's Parliament welcomed or valued Māori culture, or felt threatened by it.
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Euronews
2 days ago
- Euronews
Yurok tribe reclaims land in California's largest land-back project
The Yurok Tribe has regained nearly 189 square kilometres of ancestral forestland along the Klamath River in northern California, more than doubling their land holdings and marking the largest land-back conservation deal in state history. The tribe plans to restore the landscape through traditional stewardship methods such as controlled burns, prairie restoration, invasive species removal and tree planting, efforts that will also create jobs for the tribe's 5,000 members. "We're thrilled to announce that we've transferred the final phase of land to the Yurok tribe and completed creation of the Blue Creek Salmon Sanctuary and the Yurok tribal community forest," said Josh Kling, conservation director at Western Rivers Conservancy. He added, "This is the single largest land-back project of lands going back to a tribe in the entire state of California. 47,000 acres is now under the ownership and stewardship of the Yurok tribe." The return of these lands is part of the broader Land Back movement, which seeks to restore Indigenous ownership and stewardship of traditional territories. Over the past decade, around 12,000 square kilometres of land has been returned to tribes across 15 states through federal programmes aided by conservation organisations. For the Yurok, 90% of whose territory was seized during the Gold Rush era, reclaiming this land holds deep significance. "Re-acquiring landscapes like this allows us to heal, to work towards healing a wound that was inflicted not only on the lands but our hearts when these lands were taken away from us," said Tiana Williams-Clausen, director of the Yurok Tribe's wildlife department. She emphasised Blue Creek's importance, calling it "one of the best and clearest and healthiest of tributaries that go into the Klamath River, which is the heart of Yurok Country," but noted it has faced destructive management for years. Studies increasingly show that forests stewarded by Indigenous peoples are healthier, more biodiverse and more resilient, highlighting the critical role of traditional ecological knowledge in combating climate change. Beth Rose Middleton Manning, a Native American Studies professor at UC Davis, said "Indigenous people's perspective - living in relation with the lands, waterways and wildlife - is becoming widely recognised and is a stark contrast to Western views." Despite this landmark land-back project, however, Yurok Tribe members know it's going to take decades of work for these lands and waterways to heal. New Zealand's parliament suspended three lawmakers on Thursday who performed a Māori haka in protest against a controversial proposed law that critics said would reverse indigenous rights. Hana-Rāwhiti Maipi-Clarke received a seven-day ban and the leaders of her political party, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and Rawiri Waititi, were barred for 21 days. Their political party, Te Pāti Māori, also known as the Māori Party, is a left-wing political group in New Zealand advocating for minority Māori rights. A parliamentary privilege committee recommended that the trio be suspended for acting in "a manner that could have the effect of intimidating a member of the House." Three days had been the longest ban for a lawmaker from New Zealand's Parliament prior to this, meaning the three-week suspension of Ngarewa-Packer and Rawiri Waititi sets a new record. The three politicians performed a haka in Parliament in opposition of the widely unpopular Treaty Principles Bill which they said would be damaging to the rights of indigenous peoples. The bill has since been defeated. It sought to legally define the principles of the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi, which is the pact signed between Māori leaders and the British Crown during New Zealand's colonisation. More than 40,000 people protested outside parliament during the bill's first reading last year. The protest provoked months of debate among lawmakers about what the consequences of the Te Pāti Māori politicians' actions should be and whether New Zealand's Parliament welcomed or valued Māori culture, or felt threatened by it.
France 24
2 days ago
- France 24
🌟The Bright Side: California's Yurok tribe reclaims ancestral homelands in major landback deal
As a youngster, Barry McCovey Jr. would sneak through metal gates and hide from security guards just to catch a steelhead trout in Blue Creek amid northwestern California redwoods. Since time immemorial, his ancestors from the Yurok Tribe had fished, hunted and gathered in this watershed flanked by coastal forests. But for more than 100 years, these lands were owned and managed by timber companies, severing the tribe's access to its homelands. When McCovey started working as a fisheries technician, the company would let him go there to do his job. 'Snorkeling Blue Creek ... I felt the significance of that place to myself and to our people, and I knew then that we had to do whatever we could to try and get that back,' McCovey said. After a 23-year effort and $56 million, that became reality. Roughly 189km 2 of homelands have been returned to the Yurok, more than doubling the tribe's land holdings, according to a deal announced Thursday. Completion of the land-back conservation deal along the lower Klamath River – a partnership with Western Rivers Conservancy and other environmental groups – is being called the largest in California history. The Yurok Tribe had 90% of its territory taken during the California Gold Rush in the mid-1800s, suffering massacres and disease from settlers. 'To go from when I was a kid and 20 years ago even, from being afraid to go out there to having it be back in tribal hands … is incredible,' said McCovey, director of the Yurok Tribal Fisheries Department. Land Back is a global movement seeking the return of homelands to Indigenous people through ownership or co-stewardship. In the last decade, nearly 12,173km 2 were returned to tribes in 15 states through a federal programme. Organisations are aiding similar efforts. There's mounting recognition that Indigenous people's traditional knowledge is critical to addressing climate change. Studies found the healthiest, most biodiverse and resilient forests are on protected native lands where Indigenous people remained stewards. Beth Rose Middleton Manning, a University of California, Davis professor of Native American Studies, said Indigenous people's perspective – living in relation with the lands, waterways and wildlife– is becoming widely recognised, and is a stark contrast to Western views. 'Management of a forest to grow conifers for sale is very different from thinking about the ecosystem and the different plants and animals and people as part of it and how we all play a role," she said. The Yurok people will now manage these lands and waterways. The tribe's plans include reintroducing fire as a forest management tool, clearing lands for prairie restoration, removing invasive species and planting trees while providing work for some of the tribe's more than 5,000 members and helping restore salmon and wildlife. One fall morning in heavy fog, a motorboat roared down the turbid Klamath toward Blue Creek – the crown jewel of these lands – past towering redwoods, and cottonwoods, willows, alders. Suddenly, gray gave way to blue sky, where an osprey and bald eagle soared. Along a bank, a black bear scrambled over rocks. The place is home to imperiled marbled murrelets, northern spotted owls and Humboldt martens, as well as elk, deer and mountain lions. The Klamath River basin supports fish – steelhead, coho and Chinook salmon – that live in both fresh and saltwater. The Klamath was once the West Coast's third largest salmon-producing river and the life force of Indigenous people. But the state's salmon stock has plummeted so dramatically – in part from dams and diversions – that fishing was banned for the third consecutive year. 'We can't have commercial fishing because populations are so low,' said Tiana Williams-Claussen, director of the Yurok Tribe Wildlife Department. 'Our people would use the revenue to feed their families; now there's less than one salmon per Yurok Tribe member." Experts say restoring Blue Creek complements the successful, decades-long fight by tribes to remove the Klamath dams – the largest dam removal in US history. This watershed is a cold-water lifeline in the lower Klamath for spawning salmon and steelhead that stop to cool down before swimming upstream. That's key amid climate-infused droughts and warming waters. 'For the major river to have its most critical and cold-water tributary … just doing its job is critical to the entire ecosystem,' said Sue Doroff, co-founder and former president of Western Rivers Conservancy. For more than 100 years, these lands were owned and managed for industrial timber. Patchworks of 6.07ha to 8.09ha at a time of redwoods and Douglas firs have been clear cut to produce and sell logs domestically, according to Galen Schuler, a vice president at Green Diamond Resource Company, the previous land owner. Schuler said the forests have been sustainably managed, with no more than 2 percent cut annually, and that old growth is spared. He said they are 'maybe on the third round' of clear cutting since the 1850s. But clear cutting creates sediment that winds up in streams, making them shallower, more prone to warming and worsening water quality, according to Josh Kling, conservation director for the conservancy. Sediment, including from roads, can also smother salmon eggs and kill small fish. Culverts, common on Western logging roads, have also been an issue here. Most "were undersized relative to what a fish needs for passage,' Kling said. Land management decisions for commercial timber have also created some dense forests of small trees, making them wildfire prone and water thirsty, according to Williams-Claussen. 'I know a lot of people would look at the forested hillsides around here and be like, 'It's beautiful, it's forested.' But see that old growth on the hill, like way up there?' asked Sarah Beesley, fisheries biologist for the Yurok Tribe, sitting on a rock in Blue Creek. 'There's like one or two of those." Fire bans, invasive plants and encroachment of unmanaged native species have contributed to loss of prairies, historically home to abundant elk and deer herds and where the Yurok gathered plants for cultural and medicinal uses. Western Rivers Conservancy bought and conveyed land to the tribe in phases. The $56 million for the conservation deal came from private capital, low interest loans, tax credits, public grants and carbon credit sales that will continue to support restoration. The tribe aims to restore historic prairies by removing invasive species and encroaching native vegetation. The prairies are important food sources for elk and the mardon skipper butterfly, said Kling from the conservancy. Trees removed from prairies will be used as logjams for creeks to create habitat for frogs, fish and turtles. The tribe will reintroduce fire to aid in prairie restoration and re-establish forest diversity and mature forests to help imperiled species bounce back. Members know its going to take decades of work for these lands and waterways to heal. 'And maybe all that's not going to be done in my lifetime,' said McCovey, the fisheries director. 'But that's fine, because I'm not doing doing this for myself.'
Local France
2 days ago
- Local France
Paris seeks personhood status for River Seine
In a resolution adopted on Wednesday, the Paris City Council called on parliament to pass a law granting the Seine legal personhood to enable "an independent guardian authority to defend its rights in court". "The Seine must be able to defend itself, as a subject of law and not as an object, because it will always be under attack," said Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo. Conservationists have backed granting fragile ecosystems such as rivers and mountains basic legal rights to better protect them. In a world first, New Zealand in 2017 recognised the Whanganui River revered by Indigenous people as a living entity, with legislation combining Western legal precedent and Maori beliefs. In 2022, Spain granted personhood status to the Mar Menor, one of Europe's largest saltwater lagoons, to give its threatened ecosystem better protection. The Paris Council based its decision on the conclusions of a citizens' convention on the future of the Seine held between March and May. Fifty citizens chosen at random proposed granting the Seine fundamental rights such as "the right to exist, to flow and to regenerate". The Seine must be considered an ecosystem that "no one can claim ownership of", where the preservation of life must "take precedence over everything", the convention concluded. It also noted "positive" change, with the Seine now home to around 40 species of fish, compared to only four in 1970. Advertisement French authorities spent $1.5 billion ahead of the 2024 Olympics to clean up the Seine, the 777-kilometre river that flows through Paris past the Louvre, Notre-Dame Cathedral, and other iconic landmarks. However, it is threatened by pollution, rising water temperatures and the use of pesticides in agriculture. The opening of the river to the public for swimming this summer could present "additional risks", warned the convention. Fulfilling a key legacy promise from the Paris Games, authorities are to allow the public to swim from July 5th at three points in the Seine, which is now deemed safe for a dip. READ MORE: Paris to open up swimming in the Seine this summer, in Olympics legacy
