Redwoods Turned Over to Tribes

A remaining redwood forest was transferred to a tribal counsel for conservation this week.  The announcement by Save the Redwood League on Tuesday returned more than 500 acres of ancestral lands to the InterTribal Sinkyone Wilderness Council to be protected from exploitation.  A group of ten tribes have inhabited the region for  thousands of  years called "Fish Run Place" in the Sinkyone language.  Tribal leaders called the transfer fitting and a blessing, one that their ancestors would welcome.

The property was last logged thirty years ago, but is recovering and still has surviving old- growth redwood trees.  The land was purchased with funds from PG&E, that is making an effort to refurbish its environmental profile. The company is emerging from five years of criminal probation imposed on it when  one of its gas lines blew up and destroyed a San Bruno neighborhood. It pleaded guilty to 84 felony counts of manslaughter for the Paradise Wildfire while on probation!  Now that is political clout!  The company has been criticized for destroying old trees in an effort to prevent sparking igniting more wildfires. [photo credit: Save the Redwoods]

The tract is a "puzzle piece" that connects other protected forests in the Lost Coast region of northern California.  Returning lands to the original inhabitants is a growing trend in the conservation movement.  For a long time, the important tribal role in land stewardship has been ignored.  Indigenous have been stewards of the land for thousands of years before the European colonists arrived, who marginalized them.  Inviting them back to the table is better for all of us.