- Details
- By Chez Oxendine
- Real Estate
The Potter Valley Tribe has acquired 48 acres of ancestral land in Mendocino County through a federal program that helps communities purchase forest property for conservation.
The federally recognized tribe partnered with the Trust for Public Land, the Forest Service and First Nations Development Institute to establish the Pomo Community Forest using the USDA’s Community Foreset and Open Space Conservation program.
Located between Jackson State Forest and Jug Handle State Natural Reserve, the coastal parcel will provide space for cultural programming, public recreation and traditional education, according to a Trust for Public Land announcement.
The tribe plans habitat restoration projects, protection of culturally significant plants and foods, and forest resilience efforts. Tribal funds and grants will cover long-term management costs.
“We will be working to restore the site to a healthy state of old growth and mixed forest resources, using Traditional Ecological Knowledge and modern practices,” Tribal Chairman Salvador Rosales said in a statement. “We look to the future for traditional gathering, recreation, and educational opportunities.”
Only two other tribes have used the federal program: the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in North Carolina and the Kalispel Tribe of Indians in Washington, according to the First Nations Development Institute. The program, authorized as part of the 2008 Farm Bill, is intended to leverage federal and non-federal funding to acquire and convey forest land to communities for conservation. Since 2012, the Community Forest Program has supported 99 projects across 26 states and territories, permanently conserving 27,500 acres of forest land.
The Potter Valley acquisition highlights the program's limited but potentially important role for Indigenous land reclamation efforts.
“This land could have been subdivided and developed, forever severing cultural and ecological ties for future generations,” said Jeff Conti, project manager at Trust for Public Land. “Instead, it will now serve as a center for cultural empowerment, food sovereignty, youth education, and recreation.”
The Trust for Public Land has helped establish 30 community forests nationwide since 2001, protecting more than 30,000 acres. The organization has partnered with over 70 tribes and Indigenous communities over two decades to protect and return more than 200,000 acres of ancestral lands, including recent efforts to return 30,000 acres in Maine to the Penobscot Nation and protect culturally significant lands on California's Central Coast with the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band.
