California tribes ask governor to sign bill on co-management of lands, waters
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(California News Service) Indigenous leaders are asking California Governor Gavin Newsom to sign a bill that would allow federally recognized tribes to sign agreements with the state to co-manage and co-govern ancestral lands and waters. Assembly Bill 1284 unanimously passed both houses of the state Legislature this week.
Scott Sullivan is vice chairman of the Tolowa Dee-ni' Nation.
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"This is going to allow us to deepen our relationship on a government-to-government level, it'll give us better access to our traditional ancestral territories to improve the environment and to reconnect our people to the land," he said.
Tribes hope the bill will strengthen shared decision-making around the new Yurok-Tolowa Dee-ni' Indigenous Marine Stewardship Area - which covers the coastline and up to three miles out from the Mendocino County town of Little River up to the California-Oregon border.
Fawn Murphy, chair of the Pulikla Tribe of Yurok People, said the tribes want to promote biodiversity and reverse erosion and environmental degradation.
"As these devastating climate impacts are coming and things are changing so rapidly, we need to bring it back to what works. California tribal people have been practicing traditional ecological knowledge since time immemorial," Murphy explained.
The tribes also seek input into future offshore wind projects in the area. The bill is also intended to help California meet its goal of preserving 30 percent of the state's land and waters by 2030.
