An Indigenous tribe is regaining control of its ancestral lands while fighting climate change

The Yurok Tribe are one of the oldest existing communities in California. With a homeland stretching along northern coastal communities from Crescent City to Trinidad, there are estimated to be more than 6,000 Yurok alive in 2024. Yet despite living along the Klamath River for at least 10,000 years, the Yurok have in recent history had very little say over California’s natural resources.

Then last year, the Klamath River Renewal Corporation (KRRC) announced that it would begin dismantling the Klamath Hydroelectric Project, which has blocked fish passage and changed the Klamath’s river flows for over 100 years. Now additional steps are being taken to restore control of the region’s natural resources to the local indigenous community.

In March, the Yurok Tribe signed an agreement with the National Park Service and California State Parks that constitutes a memorandum of understanding: An environmentalist nonprofit known as the Save the Redwoods League, which currently controls the 125-acre national park known as ‘O Rea, will eventually transfer control back to the Yurok Tribe.

“Soon, the tribe will own the land,” Yurok Tribal Heritage Preservation Officer Rosie Clayburn told Salon. “The tribe has already converted most the former mill site into a beautiful meadow filled with native grasses. In a few years, there will be no signs that the mill ever existed. The property is located roughly in the middle of Yurok ancestral territory.”

The current owners of the land are also enthusiastic about this change.

“It is incredibly exciting news and we are proud to be a partner,” Patrick Taylor, the Redwoods National and State Parks interpretation and education program manager, told Salon. “However, an important technical point is that the agreement did not change the management of the national park. Rather, this is a commitment for partners to work together in continuing to restore a specific piece of land that will be transferred from Save the Redwoods League to the Yurok Tribe in about two years. We do additionally regularly partner on park operations and projects with the Yurok.”

Yurok Fisheries Department Director Barry McCovey, a Yurok citizen who has studied the Klamath River for more than 20 years, told Salon that the lower four Klamath dams had “created the perfect conditions” for the toxic blue-green algae to proliferate.

“During the late summer and early fall, it can be unsafe to make contact with the Klamath due to the serious health risks associated with the algae,” McCovey said. “The dams altered riverine habitat in a way that created the perfect breeding grounds for fish diseases. These pathogens can kill up to 90% of the juvenile salmon as they make their way to the sea. In time, dam removal will significantly reduce the amount of this disease in the river. The dams also considerably alter the river’s natural flow regime and disrupt the interconnected biological processes that sustain a healthy aquatic ecosystem. The removal of the dams will greatly resolve these issues, too.”

In addition to helping the region ecologically, the transfer of control is also expected to assist economically.

“Many Yurok people had to work in the mill that operated on this parcel,” Clayburn said. “At the time, there were hardly any jobs in this area. More than 90 percent of the Tribe’s land base was stolen, making it impossible to establish a tribal economy based on traditional values. Yurok people did not want work in the mill because of what it meant for the forest, but there were no other options. It was either work in the mill or starve.”

Jessica Carter, who works as tribal court director for the Yurok, told Salon that the partners working together to transfer control back to their tribe “have a clear and compelling shared vision for the ‘O Rew Redwoods Gateway, and our work over the next two years is intended to ensure sustainable conservation.”

Carter added, “The partners will create the detailed framework for this new model of long-term co-management of tribal-owned land with federal and state agencies by finalizing the agreements and mechanisms for permanent conservation, public access, co-management and funding.”

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The park’s managers will also be mindful of climate change. As humans continue burning fossil fuels that pump greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, they overheat the planet and cause a myriad of environmental problems. ‘O Rew Redwoods Gateway is no exception.

“Climate change is the only potential obstacle regarding the preservation of this land for future generations,” Clayburn said. “However, the restoration project anticipates a warmer, drier future and aims to proactively prevent future impacts from climate change.” 

To make the park more resilient to climate change, those involved in large-scale restoration have built off-channel ponds and large wood structures on the creek which “slow flows and enable water to fill underground aquifers faster in the winter. The cold water is naturally released back into the creek during the dry months,” Clayburn said.

The Yurok have also been restoring native plants, handsowing 50,000 native trees, grasses and shrubs on the property.

“The Tribe will be planting even more native flora in the coming year,” Clayburn explained. “At maturity, these plants will shade the creek and keep water temperatures down, not to mention sequester carbon from the atmosphere.”

McCovey elaborated on the extent to which the Yurok community is directly invested in the success of these projects.

“With nearly 100 employees, the Yurok Fisheries Department alone employs more biologists than any other agency in California, aside from the state department of fish and wildlife,” McCovey said. “The department conducts research, oversees salmon harvests, informs water policy decisions, monitors fish health and plans and implements river restoration projects. In 2021, the Tribe launched the Yurok Tribe Construction Corporation.” The federal government works in collaboration with the KRRC to implement and analyze various large-scale projections in the region. “On the Klamath, a central component of Yurok culture, this work enables the tribe to play a major role in healing the river for future generations.”

In addition to demonstrating that conservation can be maintained through equitable approaches between scientists and local communities, the new plan can also stimulate additional public interest in Yurok culture.

“After the transfer, the Yurok Tribe aims to construct a visitor center highlighting the distinct history and living culture of the Tribe and the extraordinary natural, cultural and recreational resources of the parks,” Clayburn said. “The Yurok Tribe also plans to build a traditional village on-site, including plank houses and a sweat house.”

Perhaps the most inspiring part of the story is that it has brought groups which historically have been at war — Indigenous communities being victimized by government agencies — together in a positive relationship.

“The healing of this land has brought together the Yurok Tribe, Save the Redwoods League, California Trout, numerous local restoration experts, and critical agency funding partners such as the California State Coastal Conservancy, California Wildlife Conservation Board, and NOAA Restoration Center so that we can address and mitigate some of the imminent climate threats,” Carter said.