Latest news with #MuwekmaOhloneTribe
Axios
21-03-2025
- Politics
- Axios
Bay Area tribe seeks to reclaim The Presidio
In the latest escalation over the Presidio's future, the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe is petitioning the Trump administration to hand over supervision of the 1,500-acre national park back to Indigenous people. The latest: The tribe in mid-March called on President Trump and Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum "to return land back to Indigenous hands while simultaneously accomplishing your goals of making the federal government smaller," according to the petition, which the tribe is partnering with the Lakota People's Law Project to secure public support for. Catch up quick: The Muwekma Ohlone's move is in response to Trump's executive order from February seeking to eliminate the Presidio Trust. The federal agency was created in 1996 to oversee the historic site, which once served as a military base. What they're saying:"This president wants to dismantle the Presidio Trust and what better hands to manage that land than the people of the area — the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe," tribal chairwoman Charlene Nijmeh told Axios. Between the lines: The petition is the most recent effort in their long-sought struggle for " rematriation," the women-led process behind reclaiming sovereignty on ancestral lands. The goal is to create a new reservation for the tribe to call home, Nijmeh said. "This is not new — it's just another opportunity to have access to a piece of land in our Aboriginal territory," she added. "We want to live on our land, like our ancestors did. We don't want to be visitors." The big picture: The national park has been caught in the political crossfire of Trump's retaliation campaign against his enemies — including former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who championed the effort to create the trust. The other side: A representative from the Presidio Trust declined to comment on the petition but made note that the tribe's claim that their effort would " reduce federal taxpayer spending" is incorrect since no ongoing taxpayer funds are used to operate the site. The trust gets its funding from revenue obtained through its businesses, leasing activities and private donations, which earned $182 million in 2024. Flashback: Ohlone ancestors long inhabited the Presidio and surrounding region before the site became a military outpost during the Mexican-American war. The Muwekma Ohlone tribe, which remains unrecognized, has been fighting to affirm its federal status for more than 45 years.
Yahoo
13-03-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Scientists make stunning discovery months after setting controlled fires: 'A glimpse of what is to come'
In most cases, fire is highly destructive, jeopardizing homes, businesses, and wildlife species, as recently underscored by the Los Angeles-area and Carolina fires. However, in some cases, the controlled use of fire — or prescribed burns — can be beneficial for restoring habitats and bringing back endangered or threatened species. SFGate reported that the Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve in Woodside, California, is seeing a "fairly threatened" plant species — the Western bewildering bushmallow — make a resurgence following controlled burns in the area. This type of burning is a practice that the local Muwekma Ohlone Tribe, along with other Native Tribes, engaged in for centuries. But tribal burns were long prohibited by the California state government, according to NPR, as the state sought to erase Indigenous culture. As the need for wildfire prevention forces the state to distinguish between bad fires and "good ones," the latter is now making a steady return. The Muwekma Ohlone Tribe guided the strategic burn that took place in the preserve area in March of 2024. "Burn boss" Phil Dye and scientist Sheena Sidhu oversaw the prescribed burn while tribal Chairwoman Charlene Nijmeh led the burn prayers in the Chochenyo language (an Ohlone language), according to SFGate. After about half a year, scientists noticed that many native chaparral plants (short, hardy shrubs) were beginning to resurface — the Western bewildering bushmallow being one of them. Ancestral tribal knowledge about how to support ecosystems includes regularly burning the land to enable growth, such as that of the Western bewildering bushmallow plant, the seeds of which rely on heat for reproduction. The practice of fire suppression in the area, among other reasons, led to the plant becoming moderately threatened. Do you think we still have a lot to learn from ancient cultures? Definitely Only on certain topics I'm not sure No — not really Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. The success of this joint-effort burn in 2024, evidenced by the return of a locally threatened species, has made clear the importance of taking a multi-tool approach to land management. Other initiatives are similarly blending knowledge and resources in this way to more effectively protect the planet we call home. Partnership with the Waimiri-Atroari people in the Amazon led to a network of highway bridges for primates at risk of being struck by vehicles. And Native communities and the federal government are working together to restore buffalo populations throughout the United States. A Stanford news report said of the preserve's intentional burn: "The bushmallow gives us a glimpse of what is to come as we bring back the traditional reciprocal relationship between humans and the rest of the local flora and fauna with whom we share the land." Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
