Tribal & Native Lands Project Highlights
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| Mount Mazama. Photo: Bill Sharp |
Oregon
More than two years ago, the Klamath Tribes of southern Oregon (comprising the Klamath, Modoc, and Yahooskin people) asked The Trust for Public Land's (TPL) Tribal & Native Lands Program for help in buying back their land. Now, the Klamath Tribes have entered into an option to purchase the Mazama Forest, a 90,000-acre property, from its owner, Cascade Timberlands, LLC with the hope to acquire the property by fall of 2009. The forest was part of the 1.2 million-acre Klamath Indian Reservation until a federal policy known as Termination was enacted in 1954. Read more and view a slide show here. or read the feature in the Spring 2009 Newsletter
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| Photo: Larry Workman |
Washington
For centuries, the Quinault Nation (QIN) has called the rich forests, rivers, and shores of the Olympic Peninsula home. Like tribes across the United States, the QIN has a long history of displacement and dispossession from lands that are central to their culture and identity. Today, the QIN owns a mere one percent of their original homeland. Concerned with the future use and ownership of the land, the QIN turned to TPL to help create a sustainable conservation strategy for the Nation: one that preserves tribal culture and traditions, protects key natural lands and waters, and supports sustainable natural resource management and community development. Drawing on TPL's expertise in conservation planning, finance, and transactions, the QIN Conservation Strategy provides a foundation for a sustainable conservation and land consolidation program for the QIN.
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| Photo: Phil Schermeister |
Washington
Located at the confluence of the Klickitat and Columbia Rivers, Lyle Point is a sacred site to the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation. Lyle Point was a place where a Klickitat village existed for thousands of years and has traditional fishing sites protected by the Treaty of 1855. In 1992 a private developer bought the land from a railroad company to build a gated community over the burial areas and posed a threat to the traditional fishing access. Members of the Klickitat and Cascade Bands of the Yakama Nation and local environmental groups asked TPL to help them protect the land. TPL acquired the land in two separate parcels in 2000 and 2002, holding the land while working to find a steward who would conserve and protect the historical, cultural and spiritual land. In May 2007, TPL conveyed the land to the Yakama Nation, a steward that holds the land sacred.
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| Looking northwest toward Minneapolis from Pilot Knob. Photo: Tom Evers |
Minnesota
Pilot Knob was so named by riverboat captains in the 1850s that referenced this high point to pilot their boats up the Mississippi into the Minnesota River valley. Around that same time, Minnesota's first governor, Henry Sibley, climbed Pilot Knob's steep hill and waxed eloquently about the 'picturesque beauty' of the high, stone fort and the two river valleys. Long before Sibley arrived, Native Americans they called "Oheyawahi" —"the hill much-visited." Dakota Indians and Europeans both selected the hill as a place to honor and remember their dead. It was also from this prominence that the Dakota Indians, in 1851, signed a treaty granting the United States 35 million acres of tribal lands west of the Mississippi, forever changing the course of Minnesota's history. Three years ago, a private developer announced plans to build high-density housing on approximately 27 acres of this historic hill. Following strong objections from Dakota Indian communities, hundreds of area residents joined historic Native American, religious, and environmental organizations in urging further study of the site and establishment of a public reserve. As public land, the 8.5-acre portion of Pilot Knob will largely remain in its natural state. As those development plans faltered, TPL became involved to help find a positive alternative to conserve the most prominent piece of property at the north end of the hill and eventually helped secure funds so that the The City of Mendota Heights could purchase the land. The city plans to restore native vegetation, construct a series of unpaved paths on the site, which will be accessible from the adjacent Big Rivers Regional Trail.
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| Photo: National Park Service |
Minnesota
Across the Great Plains, the stories of the pipestone differ from Sioux to Crow, from Blackfoot to Pawnee. Variation is one indication of the geographical extent to which the red stone and pipe were used and traded. The reverence with which the stories are passed down through generations is testimony to their importance. More recently, a tribal affiliation study completed by the University of Arizona at Tucson, and funded by the National Park Service identified 23 tribes with interest in the area of Pipestone National Monument. In March 2007, TPL acquired and donated 15.3 acres of land adjacent to the monument's current northeast boundary at the request of the National Park Service. The project was also supported by the Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma, the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe, Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe, and Sisseton-Wahpeton Sioux Tribe. The monument contains a number of important American Indian spiritual and archeological sites and resources. The additional acres will preserve soundscapes associated with Winnewissa Falls and the Circle Trail.
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| Photo: Shaun Hamilton |
Minnesota
Moonshine Island is the last large privately owned, undeveloped property in this wild part of the Chippewa Flowage. The island provides habitat for herons, eagles, loons, and waterfowl. Deer, bear, wolves, and furbearers also use the property, and the lake is a world-class fishery for muskie and walleye. The Chippewa Flowage is increasingly popular with canoers, campers, and kayakers and is listed in the Wisconsin Land Legacy Report. It is also historically significant for the Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians as it is close to the site of the original native village of Old Post, which was flooded during the creation of the lake despite strong objections by the Lac Courte Oreilles people. The site also likely includes unmarked graves and artifacts. TPL worked directly with the Lac Courte Oreilles Band to help conserve this natural treasure and in March 2007, returned it to its original stewards.
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| Some descendants of Reverend Eliot's Praying Band of Indians in 1944, celebrating the 290th anniversary of the founding of Hassanamesitt Photo courtesy of Cheryl Watching Crow |
Praying Indian Village
Hassanamesitt Woods, Grafton, Massachusetts
Three hundred and fifty years ago the Reverend John Eliot established Hassanamesitt, one of fourteen "praying Indian villages" in southern New England established to encourage Native Americans to convert to Christianity. The 190-acre Hassanamesitt Woods property in Grafton is believed to contain the core remains of the praying village. The land has significant cultural importance to the Nipmuc Tribal Nation and further archaeological investigation of the site will offer a unique window to the interactions between native and English populations during the 17th century. Previously, the woodland was under agreement for the planned development of more than 100 homes. Working with the town of Grafton, the Grafton Land Trust, the Nipmuc Nation, and the state, TPL purchased the property and held it off the market until funding could be secured to protect it.
Bear River Massacre Site,
Shoshone ceremonial drummer
Photo by: Phil Schermeister
Preston, Idaho, near the Utah/Idaho border
In January, 1863, U.S. volunteer soldiers attacked the winter camp of the Northwestern Band of Shoshone Nation, slaughtering as many as 350 men, women, and children in what is believed to be the largest massacre of Native American people in U.S. history. In April 2003, the southern Idaho site of the Bear River Massacre was returned to the Shoshone people. This project highlights TPL's Tribal & Native Lands Program, which works with tribal communities to restore lands of significant cultural, historical, and natural value. The American West Heritage Center helped TPL raise funds for the project.
Walla Walla River,
Photo by: Michael Fredrickson
central Oregon
In 1855 the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR) ceded 6.4 million acres of land to the federal government. Today, the Umatilla Reservation covers only 158,000 acres. This January, TPL helped add an additional 46 acres to be managed by CTUIR's Fish and Wildlife Program. Located along the South Fork of the Walla Walla River in central Oregon, the 46-acre parcel includes 22 acres of water rights. The Tribes have had success reintroducing chinook and coho salmon to the Umatilla River and are working on a formal plan to reintroduce the highly regarded spring chinook to the Walla Walla.
Trail of Tears,
Moccasin Bend on the Tennesse River
Photo by: Billy Weeks
Tennessee, Georgia
The Trust for Public Land has been assisting the national Trail of Tears Association, the National Park Service and other local agencies and nonprofits in protecting land associated with the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail.
Chattanooga's present-day Cherokees are trying to preserve that first segment of the Trail of Tears in tandem with a long-standing dream of making Moccasin Bend a national park.
In separate but related Trail of Tears work in nearby north Georgia, TPL also is helping Friends of the Chief Vann House to save a significant 95-acre tract of land opposite the historic plantation of Cherokee Chief James Vann, who with his family was evicted by the Georgia militia in 1838 and marched off on the Trail of Tears.
More information on TPL's Trail of Tears project work
Trail of Tears Projects Completed in 2003
"Retracing the Trail of Tears" from Land&People, Fall 2002
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| Photo by: Gary Wesells |
For years this 15-acre site near Tacoma was listed as a priority acquisition by a multi-agency group working to restore fish and wildlife habitat in Commencement Bay. The eel-grass tidelands here offer critical habitat for juvenile salmonids as they leave the Puyallup River, Hylebos Creek, and other freshwater streams. As part of the project, TPL oversaw the demolition and removal of two derelict barges, a derelict drydock, and associated debris which had been an unsightly and environmentally damaging nuisance. TPL transferred the land to the Puyallup Tribe, which named the new wildlife preserve "Yowkwala," the tribal word for eagle.
Miller Island, Wasco County, Oregon
TPL purchased this 777-acre island and conveyed it to the U.S. Forest Service in January, 1989, for permanent protection. The former site of an ancient Native American village, the island had been threatenend by cattle grazing and gravel mining, which had damaged many of the ancient pictographs on the basalt cliffs of the southeast shore. The Nez Perce, Warm Springs, Umatilla and Yakama tribes are currently working with the Forest Service on a management plan to protect the island's unique cultural and natural resources.
Wocus Point, Klamath Basin, Oregon
Situated below Mt. Mazama in south central Oregon's Klamath Basin, this is a 138-acre private inholding surrounded by the Klamath Marsh National Wildlife Refuge and the Winema National Forest. Covered with artifacts, Wocus Point was a Native American settlement for thousands of years and is one of the major ancient burial sites in the Klamath Basin. The acquisition of this property was complicated by a large number of recreation and hunting leases which were sold on the property in the 1960s. TPL cleared these leases and placed Wocus Point in the ownership of the U.S. Forest Service in 1993, preventing further vandalism of the gravesites and looting of artifacts.
Sabo Farm, Clearwater County, Minnesota
Thanks to a timely assist from TPL, a flourishing, 2500-acre wild rice farm in northwestern Minnesota was acquired by the Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians, who have harvested this valuable native plant for many generations. Harold and Doris Sabo had built their farm into a successful operation and, upon retirement, were eager to see it become part of the Red Lake Reservation, just across the Clearwater River. TPL stepped in as intermediate buyer to negotiate sale of the farm to the tribe. Running this commercial wild rice operation will aid the Red Lake Band both culturally and economically, providing training and employment opportunities for its young people.
Snake Warrior's Island, Broward County, Florida
Members of the Seminole tribe settled on Snake Warrior's Island in the 1800s after retreating from European incursion into their historical territory further north in Florida. This project protects a site of tremendous historic significance to the Seminoles.
Chief Joseph Ranch, or Hetes'wits Wetes (Precious Land), Wallowa County, Oregon
In June of 1997, after two years of complex negotiations, TPL was able to convey to the Nez Perce tribe some 10,300 acres in the heart of its ancestral homeland in Northeast Oregon. This historic project restored the land to Nez Perce stewardship precisely 120 years after Chief Joseph and his people were driven from their lands in one of the last of the Indian wars in 1877. Formerly a cattle ranch, the property provides excellent wildlife habitat (primarily for Big Horn sheep, elk, cougar and anadromous fish) and will be managed by the tribe as a wildilfe preserve. The ranch was purchased with mitigation funds by the Bonneville Power Administration.
InterTribal Sinkyone Wilderness, Mendocino County, California
Photo by: TPL
The nation's first intertribal wilderness was established August 18, 1997 on 3,845 acres of redwood forestland along the Lost Coast north of Fort Bragg. The InterTribal Sinkyone Wilderness is a small portion of the original Sinkyone Indian territory. From the mid-1800's through the early-1900's, Sinkyone people were massacred and driven from their land. Some Sinkyone survivors joined neighboring tribes. This land holds great cultural significance for local tribes who in the mid-1980's helped stop further clear cut logging of Sinkyone's coastal old growth redwoods and formed InterTribal Sinkyone Wilderness Council. The Council is a nonprofit land conservation organization comprised of ten federally recognized North Coast tribes. TPL, along with the Pacific Forest Trust, the State Coastal Conservancy, and others, assisted the Council with reestablishing Indian control of the land and executing easements ensuring permanent conservation of its sensitive cultural and ecological values. With support and assistance from private foundations, conservation organizations, and state agencies, the Council is working to preserve and restore Sinkyone's forest, salmon, and other culturally important resources.
Bufflehead Bay, Cape Cod, Massachusetts
With strong support from the Wampanoag tribe, TPL acquired 345 acres on Bufflehead Bay and transferred 270 of them to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as part of the Mashpee National Wildlife Refuge. In a new model of multiple ownership, the 5,871-acre Refuge is managed by a council that includes federal, state, and town governments as well as the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe and private groups. "This is an old, old dream of my people, and I am grateful I have lived to see the day," said John Peters, supreme medicine man of the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe.
Burgdorf Meadows, Idaho County, Idaho
In the Secesh River drainage--a tributary of the Salmon River--Burgdorf Meadows remains a stronghold for imperiled summer Chinook salmon. The Nez Perce Tribe has a long history of using the meadow for hunting, fishing, and gathering, and today maintains an active salmon recovery program in the Secesh River. TPL conveyed a conservation easement over 89 acres at Burgdorf Meadows to the Nez Perce Tribe and Idaho Department of Fish and Game. The easement will prohibit development of the meadow to protect spawning habitat as well as big game forage for elk, deer, and moose.
Boiling Springs, Scott County, Minnesota
Boiling Springs is an active artesian spring that bubbles up from a pool within Eagle Creek, the last naturally reproducing trout stream in the Twin Cities area. The spring itself is a sacred site for the nearby Shakopee Mdwekaton Sioux community. TPL facilitated transactions with the private landowners to create a 52.5-acre protected corridor of land along Eagle Creek's west branch. As a result, the creek's water quality and trout habitat will be maintained and a trail will be installed to assure continued, low-impact public access. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources manages the area jointly with the adjacent cities, Trout Unlimited, and other environmental groups.
Updated 11/2007
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