Descendants of the first peoples of the Los Angeles Basin had no land of their own for nearly 200 years.
Two years ago, a one-acre parcel of land on the outskirts of Altadena dotted with oak trees and shrubs became the first piece of land returned to the Tongva people. We finally have a space to hold traditional ceremonies, community gatherings, and other events.
The fire, which started in the hills near Eaton Canyon on Jan. 7, had scorched more than 14,000 acres as of Friday and caused significant damage to the property, including destroying an old stone house and garage on the property.
Still, according to the Tongva Taraksat Pashavsha Conservancy, a nonprofit organization dedicated to restoring and protecting the lands and cultural heritage of the Tongva people in the LA area, if it were not for the indigenous practices practiced on this land, losses would be lost. It could have been even worse.
The conservation group’s president, Wallace Cleaves, credits traditional management practices, such as cutting down 97 fire-risking eucalyptus trees, for reducing the impact of the wildfires.
Wallace Cleaves, chairman of the Tongva Taraxat Paxaavxa Conservancy, believes traditional management actions, including the removal of 97 fire-hazardous eucalyptus trees, have reduced the impact of the wildfires.
(Myung Jeong Chun/Los Angeles Times)
“It is very likely that the work carried out to remove invasive or dangerous species on the site has reduced the damage and that the plants that live there are likely to be able to recover without much damage. “We believe it has,” he said.
For thousands of years, the Tongva people thrived in the San Gabriel Mountains. The canyon provided abundant food and served as a trade route between distant indigenous communities. However, by the early 20th century, the Tongva people lost their ancestral homeland in Southern California after forced removal and enslavement by successive Spanish, Mexican, and white American settlers.
Without federal recognition or reservations, they have sought to have available land returned to them through a “land restitution” movement, Cleaves and conservancy director Charles Sepulveda said in a Bloomberg 2021 article. I wrote about it in an article in 2016.
“We need places where we can gather food, medicine, and sacred plants without fear of arbitrary restrictions by a land management system that has too much control over the land. It is so bad that it continues to burn endlessly,” they wrote. “We need places where we can come together and renew ourselves, our culture, and our communities.”
This one-acre property, which now brings a new connection to the Tongva people, was once owned by Sharon Alexander, whose family built a Spanish ranch-style home on the wooded lot in 1931. I did. Alexander, who was using the house as a rental, gave away the land. It was presented to the Tongva people in 2022 after learning about its ancestral importance.
Since then, the Tongba community has worked to restore the land according to traditional ecological knowledge and develop the land to support community gathering.
In addition to cutting down the eucalyptus trees, Cleaves said they also planted 50 mature oak trees and removed large amounts of old firewood and other debris. Cultural burning is also a traditional land management practice, but the Tongva have so far been unable to carry it out on their land due to permit requirements.
“Our duty is to be good stewards of the land, plants and animals we manage,” Cleaves said. “So we put a lot of effort into restoring as much Indigenous habitat as possible.”
Cleaves hasn’t been able to visit the area since the wildfires ripped through Eaton Canyon and destroyed large swathes of Altadena. But based on publicly available images, he believes the ranch house on the property remains relatively intact. No one lived on the premises.
He added that while some oak trees look scorched, many still have green leaves. Oak is one of the sacred plants of the Tongva people. Its acorns are a staple of traditional meals.
“We know oak well and know that it is very resilient,” he said. “We are hopeful that most oak trees will recover from this problem, remain healthy and remain part of our community.”
Bobcats, coyotes and bears have also visited the area. He doesn’t know what became of them.
Mr Cleaves said he hoped the Tongva people would be able to return to the grounds for ceremonies later this year.
“When you think about Indigenous-led approaches, like cultural burning and other forms of Indigenous management, that certainly helps mitigate climate change and build resilience,” said the University of California, which focuses on Indigenous land management. said Nina Fontana, a researcher at Davis.
Two years ago, this one-acre plot of land in Altadena became the first ancestral parcel returned to the Tongva people in nearly 200 years.
(Myung Jeong-cheon/Los Angeles Times)
As the Los Angeles region begins to recover and rebuild from the devastating fires in Altadena and Pacific Palisades, Fontana said it is important that state and federal agencies work with tribal communities to incorporate indigenous experiences. said. She said practices such as cultural burning are place-based and develop around specific landscapes and ecosystems.
“It’s important to listen to indigenous voices and understand that the knowledge that local communities have is thousands of years old,” she says. “I think listening and being able to put that knowledge into practice is the real key to the future of wildfire.”
This article is part of the Times’ Equity Reporting Initiative, funded by the James Irvine Foundation, which examines the challenges facing low-income workers and the efforts being made to address California’s economic disparities. I am.
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