In the scrub-brush foothills between the long flat fields of the San Joaquin Valley and the mighty peaks and Sequoia forests of the Sierra Nevada, state leaders and elders from the Tule River Indian Tribe gathered Wednesday to mark the return of 17,000 acres of ancestral land to Tule River Indian tribe.<\/p>\n
Gov. Gavin Newsom\u2019s office called it \u201cthe largest ancestral land return in the history of the region and a major step in addressing historical wrongs against California Native American tribes.\u201d<\/p>\n
The former cattle ranches, one known as the \u201cHershey Ranch\u201d and the other as the \u201cCarothers Ranch,\u201d include grasslands, oak woodlands and dark evergreen forests. They sit just south of the 55,000-acre Tule River reservation and abut the Giant Sequoia National Monument. They were purchased in 2024 and 2025 with support of the private funders, the Conservation Fund, and the California Natural Resources Agency\u2019s Tribal Nature-Based Solutions program, which uses state bond funds to return ancestral lands to tribes.<\/p>\n
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Trailers carrying Tule elk arrive at the Tule River Indian Reservation in Tulare County during a collaborative effort to release elk onto the reservation on October 22, 2025. <\/p>\n
(Travis VanZant)<\/p>\n
The program has awarded more than $107 million to support the return of tens of thousands of acres of land to California tribes, including 10,000 acres<\/a> for the Hoopa Valley tribe to acquire the headwaters of Pine Creek, a tributary of the Klamath River. The initiative is part of a state plan to conserve 30% of lands and coastal waters by 2030 and are also part of what the governor\u2019s office calls a \u201cfirst-in-the-nation effort<\/a> to address historical wrongs committed against California Native American tribes.\u201d<\/p>\n