Along the Klamath River in Northern California, where logging companies once cut ancient redwood trees, vast lands have returned to the Yurock in years of efforts to allow tribal leaders to restore forests and protect the basin essential to salmon.
The effort, which has been gradually unfolding over the past 23 years, reached its peak in May as the West Rivers Conservancy has surpassed 14,968 acres for the Yurok tribe. What is considered the largest “land-back” deal in California history was the last part of 47,097 acres that the nonprofit acquired and transferred to the tribe.
Tribal members say they are celebrating the return of their ancestral lands along Blue Creek, a major tributary that meets Klamath, about 40 miles south of the Oregon border. Blue Creek retains cultural and spiritual importance to Yurock, whose cold, clear water provides a shelter for salmon.
“We are salmon people,” said Joseph L. James, chairman of the Yurock tribe. “The river takes care of us. It’s our job to take care of the river.”
Overall, the tribe now owns an additional 73 square miles along the lower part of the Klamath River, including many of the Blue Creek basin. Heavyly cut down in the last century, the coniferous forest is managed by tribal governments as two protected areas: the Blue Creek Salmon Sanctuary and the Euloc Tribal Community Forest.
Yurock leaders say regaining control of these lands is contributing to greater efforts to restore ecological health in the Klamath Basin. Last year, the removal of four more upstream dams restored the free flow of the river, reaching an egg-laying area where salmon had not reached more than a century.
“This land is now returning home with us. We will continue the work we did as Yurok people to protect the land, protect the streams, provide people, and provide the environment,” James said.
The Center’s Blue Creek flows into the Klamath River in Humboldt County, California.
(Godofredo A.Vásquez/Applications)
In addition to Blue Creek, the land includes other streams flowing into Klamath.
The tribe is planning a project to create healthier stream habitats for fish and restore pastures and prairies. In forests, controlled burns will be used for accumulated thin vegetation.
Some old logging roads have been abolished, while others have been set up to be upgraded.
“We will continue to work to regain our wildlife population, our fish population,” James said. “I’m going to do a lot of work, but a lot of people will benefit from it.”
James said that beyond local interests, this effort serves as an example of a land counter-movement. There, indigenous people in many areas are trying to reclaim their ancestral lands that were collected several generations ago.
“This is something that looks like when you talk about the land,” James said. “Landback means returning land to the original people who are not stringed. We provide them with traditional knowledge and heal the land, the environment.”
He said that reaching this successful conclusion would include years of effort by tribal leaders and the West Rivers Conservancy, as well as the support of other partners. He said the deal should begin further discussion nationwide about how other tribes can move forward to reclaim their traditional lands.
“It’s a huge victory for the Indian country,” he said. “Here is a model that people can use from our experience to reclaim the land.”
This effort has more than doubled the tribe’s land holdings. The land was previously owned by Green Diamond Resources and its predecessor, Simpson Logging. The last time logging occurred in a property was in 2007.
Western Rivers Conservancy, a Portland, Oregon-based nonprofit, signed a purchase agreement with Green Diamond in 2008 after five years of negotiations and efforts to identify funds. The land was gradually acquired by the group between 2009 and 2017 and moved to the tribe in multiple stages.
The conservation group used an innovative financial strategy to raise $56 million from foundations, businesses and philanthropists, and other sources such as tax credits, public grants and carbon credit sales.
Support for the state’s funding and efforts came from the California Wildlife Conservation Commission and the California State Coastal Reserve, as well as other agencies.
“We’ve put together this mosaic of various sources of funding,” said Nelson Mathews, president of the Western Rivers Conservancy. “This is the result of commitment, persistence and tenacity.”
The Mathews organization focuses on protecting rivers for fish, wildlife and the public, and was attracted to the project for its conservation benefits. By establishing a salmon reserve in Blue Creek, the agreement protects important cold-water habitats for fish such as Chinook salmon, coho salmon and steelhead.
“Due to climate change, cold water is at the premiums of these rivers, which is important,” Matthews said. “So it’s important to fully protect that basin.”
He said the deal shows how conservation goals and tribal efforts are aligned in ways that bring great benefits to the land back.
“It’s good that the soul protects these rivers, and seeing the tribes reclaim their land is a double advantage,” Matthews said.
Members of the Yurock tribe say this effort and it is a very important step in addressing the lasting impact of colonization.
In the 1800s, California’s native population was destroyed by diseases, evacuation and violence, including state-sponsored killings.
Yurok’s booking was established by the federal government in 1855 and trapped tribes in areas that only cover only a small portion of their ancestral territory. In the late 1800s, white settlers and speculators find ways to secure additional land along the Klamath River, where they can extract valuable redwoods.
Today, the Yurok tribe is California’s largest tribe, with over 6,400 registered members.
“We are trying to recover from colonization,” said Amy Bowers Cordalis, a tribal lawyer at The Ridges and a lawyer at the Ridges To Riffles Indigenous Conservation Group. “And we’re now in a place where we’re beginning to see some of the fruits of effort and we’re beginning to see between the removal of the dam and the current effort.”
Yurock Tribal Attorney Amy Bowers Cordalis led the ridge to Indigenous Conservation groups and stood near the village of Lequa at the mouth of the Klamath River in 2023.
(Brian van der Bragg/Los Angeles Times)
By reclaiming these lands, the tribes will “begin rebuilding and take care of our land and resources,” she said. “We are very committed to balancing ourselves with the natural world.”
She said that visiting the cold, clear waters of Blue Creek was a spiritual experience for tribe members. “It is one of the wildest places in all of California and is glorious.”
You can travel from the Klamath River to the mouth of Blue Creek and see parts of the area by boat. However, for now, access to the area is limited.
James said the restoration and other work could change in the future once it is completed.
“At some point, we have the opportunity to turn it into a big, beautiful park,” James said. “You have to heal and put in the resources first. It’s going to take time.”
He felt that tribal members were happy to pilot these lands and waterways again, as their ancestors had done in the past.
“It’s a beautiful feeling to know that we will move this land forward for the next seven generations, Yurok people and grandchildren.”
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