Redwood Forests Given To The Sinkyone Tribe To Protect Growth In Mendocino, California

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Look around and you’ll see empty plots of lands that were once thriving forests. Development has gotten in the way for these areas, and for those who are concerned with the trees that grow in these places, they have tried their best to defend it.

Mendocino, California, is home to 500 acres of Redwood forests. These trees litter the areas, providing shelter for the wildlife that grow there. If nothing will be actively done to protect it, this forest could disappear in mere years. Hence, it’s up to the people living there to protect it.

For a second time ever, the reputable nonprofit organization named Save the Redwoods League has organized a donation of coastal redwood forestland to the InterTribal Sinkyone Wilderness Council. Their goal is to protect trees on the Lost Coast in Mendocino County, California, for good.


The organization has successfully purchased a 523-acre property that was once known as Andersonia West. This took place in 2020. To make sure that the forest is protected for good, the conservation group gave ownership to the Sinkyone Council and then they granted the League a conservation easement.

With this integral partnership, the Sinkyone people are able to resume their guardianship of a land they lived on for generations before. They were only forced out of the area when the European settlers moved in. Because they have resumed lordship over the land, the forest will again be known as Tc’ih-Léh-Dûñ (pronounced tsih-ih-LEY-duhn). The word means “Fish Run Place.”

“Renaming the property Tc’ih-Léh-Dûñ lets people know that it’s a sacred place,” Crista Ray said. She is  a tribal citizen of Pomo Indians and a board member of the Sinkyone Council.

“Today I stand on the shoulders of giants, my ancestors … to bring them honor, and to not let our old ways be forgotten, for our next generation,” said Buffie Schmidt, who is also a tribal citizen and board treasurer of the Sinkyone Council. He further added, “Our ancestors are still here, they’re still around us. As I listen to the wind, I feel like my ancestors.”

“The Sinkyone Council today represents the Indigenous Peoples who are the original stewards of this land. Their connection to the redwood forest is longstanding, and it is deep,” said Sam Hodder, the president and CEO of Save the Redwoods League.

Sam also shared, “The League is honored to support a return of Native people to this place and to partner with the Sinkyone Council in their management and stewardship of Tc’ih-Léh-Dûñ. We believe the best way to permanently protect and heal this land is through tribal stewardship. In this process, we have an opportunity to accelerate the pace and scale of conserving California’s iconic redwood forests.”

Santa Cruz Sentinel

Tc’ih-Léh-Dûñ is a coastal conifer forest. It comes with 200 acres of old-growth coastal redwoods and 1.5 miles of waterfront wilderness on Anderson Creek. This is considered a Class I fish-bearing stream that is also a tributary to the South Fork Eel River.

Second-growth redwoods, Douglas-firs, tanoaks and madrones reign on a lush understory of huckleberries, elderberries, manzanitas, and ceanothuses. This is what they call a habitat corridor that supports animals such as the coho salmon, steelhead trout, marbled murrelet and northern spotted owl. The species that live here are all listed under the US Endangered Species Act.


Tc’ih-Léh-Dûñ is the league‘s second land that they gave to the Sinkyone Council. The first one happened in 2012. This was the 164-acre Four Corners property north of Tc’ih-Léh-Dûñ, the first project that Save the Redwoods entered into a conservation agreement with the tribe that lived there.

The two partners are committed to the prevention of habitat loss, commercial timber operations, and construction and development. As what is now a Tribal Protected Area, Tc’ih-Léh-Dûñ is considered a crucial addition to 180,000 acres of adjacent conserved lands found east of the 7,250-acre Sinkyone Wilderness State Park.

Protection of Tc’ih-Léh-Dûñ

They initially purchased this 523-acre forest for a total of $3.55 million in 2020. The money was fully funded by Pacific Gas & Electric Company’s (PG&E) Compensatory Mitigation Program. The program itself helps develop projects that are connected to PG&E’s 30-year conservation goals which had been developed with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

PG&E also reimbursed the League and the Council involved for costs and management plan preparations that took place during the transaction. This was already on top of the $1.13 million that was given to support ongoing stewardship of Tc’ih-Léh-Dûñ.

“This is a great collaborative effort that demonstrates our environmental stewardship commitment to protect these valuable resources and the communities we serve,” Mariano Mandler said. He is a senior director of environmental management for PG&E.

 

 

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