{"id":389580,"date":"2026-07-07T19:40:16","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T19:40:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/389580\/"},"modified":"2026-07-07T19:40:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T19:40:16","slug":"california-returns-stretch-of-coast-to-indigenous-tribes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/389580\/","title":{"rendered":"California returns stretch of coast to Indigenous tribes"},"content":{"rendered":"

(NewsNation<\/a>) \u2014 In a historic move, the state of California is returning a stretch of the Mendocino County coast to the Indigenous tribes whose ancestral homelands are there.<\/p>\n

Officials with The California Department of Transportation, or Caltrans, approved the transfer of Blues Beach and the surrounding bluffs to the nonprofit Kai Pomo, which was founded by representatives of the Sherwood Valley Band of Pomo Indians, the Round Valley Indian Tribes and the Coyote Valley Band of Pomo Indians.<\/p>\n

The transfer of 136 acres marks the first time land managed by Caltrans has been returned to Indigenous tribes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is beyond huge,\u201d Sherwood Valley Tribal Chairman J. Carlos Rivera told the L.A. Times<\/a>. \u201cIt\u2019s enormous from our tribal perspective that we are basically obtaining the land that our people once lived on before colonization.\u201d<\/p>\n

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According to the Sault Tribe Guardian<\/a>, California got the land in the 1960s in order to expand the construction of Highway 1 and for scenic overlook projects. The site became a popular place to go over the years, but concerns grew regarding damage to sensitive habitats, cultural resources, illegal camping and unmanaged vehicle access.<\/p>\n

Planning documents obtained by the Times show that Kai Pomo will conduct cultural and archaeological resource studies and environmental surveys and then prepare a resource management plan for the property.<\/p>\n

Rivera said the property is a sacred site, as the coastal waters have been used by the tribes for seaweed and abalone gathering, and the shores host youth cultural camps.<\/p>\n

\u201cProtecting the land, it has a deeper meaning for us because we\u2019re connected to the land,\u201d Rivera added.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to NewsNation. <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(NewsNation) \u2014 In a historic move, the state of California is returning a stretch of the Mendocino County…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":389581,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8,157025,102517,157024,155230,8603],"class_list":["post-389580","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-carlos-rivera","tag-indigenous-tribes","tag-kai-pomo","tag-round-valley-indian-tribes","tag-state-of-california"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389580","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=389580"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389580\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/389581"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=389580"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=389580"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=389580"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}