Governor Gavin Newsom has launched the largest land restitution program in California history, declaring support for returning ancestral lands that were taken and submerged a century ago to the Shasta Indian Nation.
The 2,800 acres in Siskiyou County are part of a Klamath River dam removal project that will restore more than 300 miles of salmon habitat.
“This is a down payment on the state’s commitment to do better for the Native American communities who have called this land home since time immemorial,” Newsom said in a statement. The governor’s announcement Tuesday marked the beginning of California’s It marks the fifth anniversary of a formal apology to Native Americans for the state’s historical wrongs.
Newsom said the move was part of “healing deep wounds and rebuilding trust.”
The state has previously worked to return ancestral lands to the Fort Independence Indian Community, the Lone Pine Paiute-Shoshone Reservation, the Mechoopda Indian Tribe of Chicorancheria and the Wiyot Tribe. Lindsay Bribiescas, a spokesperson for the Governor’s Office of Tribal Affairs, said the Mechoopda tribe received more than 90 acres of land and the remaining land returned was about 40 acres each.
Last year, efforts to return ancestral lands to the Shasta Indian Nation also gained support from Siskiyou County. In November, the county Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to send a letter of support to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.
Fish and Wildlife, along with the California Department of Natural Resources, will work with the Shasta Indian Nation to legally return the land.
Shasta’s ancestors lived on the land surrounding Lake Kopco near Boggs Mountain before there were official records in the area, according to Siskiyou County Board of Supervisors meeting documents. Traditionally, this land is called Kíkacéki.
After the Gold Rush, the Shasta Indians worked to restore their historic communities by purchasing or homesteading; some “settled” on newly privatized land they did not own. Documents indicate that some Shasta women would strategically marry or cohabitate with non-Indian men who purchased the land, and these women eventually gained control of large tracts of land.
But in 1911, the company building Copco No. 1 Dam took the land from tribal members through eminent domain, forcing the members to relocate.
Now, more than a hundred years later, with the removal of Copco and other dams and the land re-emerging, tribal members are still eager to return.
“Having access to our ceremonial sites, including our First Salmon Ceremony site, is critical to the spiritual and emotional health of our people,” said Janice Crowe, president of the Shasta Indian Nation.
Crow said in a statement that returning the land allows the Shasta Indian Nation to complete the Shasta Heritage Trail, an educational trail designed to incorporate Native art and informational placards sharing the history of Kikachikee.
The announcement is part of a larger effort to redress California’s historical crimes against Native American communities.
As California formally apologizes, Newsom also established the California Truth and Healing Commission to clarify the record and provide opportunities for collaboration between tribes and state governments, he said.
Resulting plans and initiatives include protecting 30 percent of land and coastal waters by 2030, a grant program to return land to tribal ownership, and agreements with tribes to ensure they have access to or co-manage state parks important to them area of meaning.
It’s unclear when the ancestral lands will officially be returned to the Shasta Indian Nation.
