The Tule River Indian Tribe, whose ancestors have lived amidst the rivers and woodlands of the southern Sierra Nevada for thousands of years, are reclaiming 17,000 acres of their historical lands.
The acquisition, announced by California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday, comes after the nonprofit Conservation Fund purchased two cattle ranches in rural Tulare County and, with funding from the state, helped transfer the properties to the tribe.
The governor’s office called the transaction the largest-ever “land return” in the Sierra foothills – an area about half the size of San Francisco Tribal members described the transaction as a means of strengthening their spiritual and cultural connection to their homelands.
The transfer, which is being marked by a land-return and tule elk reintroduction ceremony, is intended to help make amends for the mistreatment that the tribe’s ancestors faced as well as preserve a mostly undeveloped area between Giant Sequoia National Monument, the tribe’s reservation and wetlands in the San Joaquin Valley.
“The historical wrongs committed by the state against the Native people of this land echo through the natural worlds of California – ecosystems that lost their first and best stewards,” Newsom said in a statement. “Today marks a critical step in deepening the relationship between the state and the Tule River Indian Tribe and works towards restoring the deep relationship between the Tribe and their ancestral lands.”
A growing number of “land back” deals have been orchestrated in California in recent years as greater light has been cast on the displacement of Native Americans from their ancestral lands. The deals also help the state meet its “30×30” goals – the hope of conserving 30% of California’s lands and coastal waters by 2030.
The Tule River Indian Tribe is a federally recognized tribe whose members descended mostly from the many Yokut-speaking groups that lived across the Tulare Lake basin and southern Sierra foothills.
The tribe manages a reservation today that is east of Porterville (Tulare County) and spans about 55,000 acres. The new property is adjacent to the reservation, on its southern end.
The financial details of the transfer were not immediately available.
“This land return demonstrates the very essence of tribal land restoration, which expands access to essential food and medicinal resources,” said Tule River Tribal Council Chairman Leister “Shine” R. Nieto Jr. in a statement. “It also supports the ongoing preservation of cultural sites, deepens environmental stewardship and restores wildlife reintroduction efforts.”
This article originally published at Major California ‘land-back’ deal with tribe preserves swath of southern Sierra.