The Southern Sierra Miwuk Nation leader brings experience in landscape stewardship and tribal service to the statewide commission.
Tara Fouch-Moore’s work with the Southern Sierra Miwuk Nation connects land stewardship, cultural traditions and the community she calls home. Now, the Mariposa resident has been appointed to California’s Native American Heritage Commission.
Gov. Gavin Newsom announced the appointment September 29. Fouch-Moore has served as the Southern Sierra Miwuk Nation’s director of landscape stewardship since 2022, following two years as its outreach coordinator. She also serves as secretary of the Nation’s Tribal Council and is a member of its Steering Committee. The unpaid commission position requires Senate confirmation, according to the governor’s announcement.
A Connection to Land and Community
Raised in Mariposa County, Fouch-Moore returned home after years away to raise her family and reconnect with her community and ancestral homelands, according to her biography published by Planet Women.
Her stewardship work includes partnerships supporting cultural burning, native plant restoration, traditional foods and pollinator habitat. Those efforts connect the care of local landscapes with opportunities to sustain and share Indigenous knowledge. Read her biography.
One example is the restoration work at Stookey Ranch Preserve, where the Southern Sierra Miwuk Nation, Sierra Foothill Conservancy and Point Blue Conservation Science are collaborating on native habitat restoration and cultural stewardship.
In a feature about that partnership, Fouch-Moore described the connection at the heart of the work: “We as indigenous people look at this landscape as our relative.” The project includes removing invasive plants and replanting native species selected in collaboration with the Nation. Point Blue’s project overview highlights how the partners bring ecological restoration and tribal knowledge together.
What the Commission Does
Established in 1976, the Native American Heritage Commission is a nine-member body appointed by the governor. Its responsibilities include identifying and cataloging California’s Native American cultural resources, including places of religious or social significance and known Native American graves and cemeteries on private land. California’s commission overview describes that statewide responsibility.
Fouch-Moore’s appointment brings a Mariposa-based tribal leader to that work, with a background rooted in caring for the landscapes and cultural traditions of the Yosemite region.
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Feature Photo: Southern Sierra Miwuk Nation Tribal Council members, from left: Danette Johnson, Shona Medinas, Sandra Chapman, Tara Fouch-Moore and Tisina Parker. Fouch-Moore has been appointed to California’s Native American Heritage Commission.
Photo Credit: Southern Sierra Miwuk Nation. The website does not state republication permission; this is not a confirmed free-use image.