California to return 2,800 acres of ancestral land to Shasta nation, Newsom’s office says
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The Shasta Indian Nation will regain more than 2,800 acres of ancestral land in northwestern California from the state, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Tuesday.
The transfer includes land previously buried under reservoirs created by Klamath River dams, whose ongoing removal project constitute the largest dam removal in history.
“Any time I hear of land back, whether it’s land management back or full trust land back to the tribes, it’s huge steps forward,” Raymond Alvarez, who sits on the tribal council of the neighboring Pit River Tribe, said. “I mean, it’s small for what was taken from us, but going forward, I hope that California will keep that up.”
The Shasta people historically inhabited land in northwestern California and southwestern Oregon, in the basins of the Klamath, Scott, and Shasta rivers. Through eminent domain, the Siskiyou Electric Power and Light Company — later reorganized as the California-Oregon Power Company, or Copco — took the land in the 1910s for the construction of the Copco dam.
“We welcome the opportunity to steward our ancestral lands in a manner consistent with tribal values and incorporating tribal ecological knowledge,” Shasta Indian Nation chairperson Janice Crowe wrote in a public statement. “Land return also allows us to educate the public by completing the Shasta Heritage Trail that incorporates Native art in the design along with informational placards that share the history of Shasta people from Kikacéki.”
Though he said that even returning management of ancestral lands to tribal nations is “remarkable,” Alvarez believes that complete return of tribal lands must involve federal protection.
“I think true land back means the federal government takes that into trust for that nation and our nation decides who can utilize those lands,” Alvarez said.
The Shasta Indian Nation is unable to petition for this parcel to be placed into trust because they are not recognized by the federal government.
The Newsom administration’s policy on tribal ancestral lands involves working “to partner with California tribes to facilitate tribal access, use, and co-management of state-owned or controlled natural lands and to work cooperatively with California tribes that are interested in acquiring natural lands in excess of state needs.”
This land return announcement marks the anniversary of Newsom’s historic apology to California tribes five years ago.
