Rosie Cleburne is a descendant of the Yurok tribe, whose territory – called 'O Reeve' in the Yurok language – was taken from them nearly two centuries ago.
He said, “As the natural world was completely destroyed, so too were the Yurok people.”
This destruction began when miners rushed for gold, killing and displacing thousands of Native Americans in California and destroying redwood trees for lumber.
“Everything that was marketable was taken out,” Clayburn said. “We've always had a very complex relationship with the landscape. We've hunted, we've fished, we've gathered. And these are all management tools. Everything we do is in balance with the natural world. ”
Now, generations later, 125 acres of land bordering the Redwood National and State Parks will be returned to the Yuroks.
The nonprofit Save the Redwoods League purchased the land from a former lumber mill in 2013, with the original goal of turning it over to the National Park Service.
Paul Ringgold of the Save the Redwoods League said, “As we continued conversations about transferring this land to the National Park Service, we began to realize that perhaps transferring the land back to the Yurok Tribe would be a better option. ” “No one knows this land better than him. They have been managing this land from time to time.”
Ringgold said management includes controlled burns to clear dead vegetation — a native practice that was once outlawed but is now considered essential to prevent catastrophic wildfires.
“Indigenous populations are using fire as a management tool,” he said. “We would like to see that kind of practice return.”
Redwoods serve as some of the largest stores of carbon on the planet. A single tree can weigh up to 250 tonnes over its lifetime, which is equivalent to removing approximately 200 cars from the road for an entire year.
But between logging and fires, 95% of California's redwoods have been destroyed. For the past decade, Yurok has been helping to restore the land.
Another forgotten gem of the ecosystem is the salmon. Fish were once so abundant that they were eaten with most meals. The Yurok word for salmon also translates to “that which we eat”. But according to a coalition of state and federal agencies, salmon populations have declined to about one-quarter of what they were 20 years ago.
The tribe is working to increase the fish population by building a stream channel, two connected ponds and about 20 acres of floodplain.
“You have salmon that provide food for humans, but they also provide for other animals,” Clyburn said. “And then when they're born and die, they put nutrients back into the ground. And so, everything just has this, this balance and this mutual way.”
That balance is coming back. there has been one Salmon population rebound And the Yurox recently reintroduced the California condor – a scavenger that is vital to the ecosystem – back into the wild for the first time this century.
“It tells us that our land is going to be OK and our people are going to be OK,” Clyburn said.
Yurox will take full control of 'O'Reeve in 2026 and, in a first-of-its-kind partnership, will receive help managing it from the Save the Redwoods League, California State Parks, and the National Park Service.
National Park Service Director Chuck Sams said, “We understand some of the mistakes we made as a federal government and this is a chance to begin making that correction with Native tribes across the United States.”
For Sams, the first Native American to lead the agency, the partnership is personal.
He said, “We are writing our own histories separately. There has been Native history and then American history. This is an opportunity for us to co-manage and co-manage to write history together.”
Of the 431 parks managed by the National Park Service, 109 now have formal co-management agreements with indigenous tribes, with 43 more on the way.
In addition to the restoration work, 'O Reeve's plans include the creation of new trails, the construction of a traditional Yurok village and the construction of a state-of-the-art visitor center. The visitor center will display Yurok artifacts and highlight the history and culture of the tribe, with the goal of educating new visitors about the land's history and significance from the perspective of the people who have lived on it the longest.
“I really hope that 'O Rev symbolizes the Yurok people coming home and reconnecting with our landscape,'” Clyburn said.
