Save the Redwoods League, a non-profit, said the property is now owned by the InterTribal Sinkyone Wilderness Council, a consortium of 10 federally recognized Northern California Tribal Nations with cultural connections to the lands and waters of traditional Sinkyone and neighboring tribal territories.
Formerly known as Andersonia West, the forest in Mendocino County will return to its original name: Tc'ih-Léh-Dûñ.
The name translates to "Fish Run Place" in the Sinkyone language.
"It lets them know that there was a language and that there were a people who lived there long before now".
A habitat corridor critical to many endangered species and home to towering old-growth redwoods, Tc'ih-Léh-Dûñ now adds to about 180,000 acres of protected lands along the Sinkyone coast.
This is the second time Save the Redwoods League have entered into a conservation agreement with the Sinkyone tribes. In 2012, they donated 164 acres of redwood – just north of Tc'ih-Léh-Dûñ – to them.
"We believe the best way to permanently protect and heal this land is through tribal stewardship", said the League's president and CEO Sam Hodder.
"In this process, we have an opportunity to restore balance in the ecosystem and in the communities connected to it, while also accelerating the pace and scale of conserving California's iconic redwood forests".
The Council and League plan to apply "a blend of Indigenous place-based land guardianship principles, conservation science, climate adaptation and fire resiliency concepts and approaches" to the newly tribal land.
The League bought the land in July 2020 for $3.55 million through a conservation program set up by the Pacific Gas & Electricity utility company, one of the state's largest private landowners.
Methinks, we should return ownership of all forestlands to indigenous people everywhere. I trust them to better care and protect these lands than governments can.
No comments:
Post a Comment