- Details
- By Chez Oxendine
- Sovereignty
The Yurok Tribe has rejected parts of a proposed Indigenous Marine Stewardship Area (IMSA) that would include Yurok ancestral lands, citing sovereignty concerns.
An initiative of the nonprofit Tribal Marine Stewardship Network, IMSAs are collaboratives where tribes work together to protect and manage coastal waters using traditional knowledge and practices. These areas remain under state and federal jurisdiction, but recognize tribal stewardship rights.
The contested IMSA — proposed by the Pulikla Tribe of Yurok People (formerly the Resighini Rancheria), Cher-Ae Heights Indian Community of the Trinidad Rancheria, and Tolowa Dee-ni’ Nation — spans three miles offshore from the California-Oregon border to the Little River in Humboldt County. Around 60% of this overlaps with Yurok ancestral territory.
“We cannot in good conscience support this initiative in our ancestral territory,” Joseph L. James, chairman of the Yurok Tribe, said in a statement. “The Yurok Tribe wants nothing but the best for Resighini and Trinidad, but it can’t come at the expense of the Yurok people and the sovereignty of the Yurok Tribe.”
The Yurok cite the 1988 Hoopa-Yurok Settlement Act, which required members of the Resighini and Trinidad Rancherias with Yurok ancestry to either join the Yurok Tribe or accept a $15,000 payment. By accepting payment, the Yurok argue these groups forfeited claims to Yurok territory, including fishing and gathering rights.
The name of the proposed IMSA — the Yurok and Tolowa-Dee-ni' Indigenous Marine Stewardship Area — has caused confusion, with some agencies mistakenly believing the Yurok Tribe supports the project. The recent renaming of Resighini Rancheria to “Pulikla Tribe of Yurok People” has further complicated matters, according to the Yurok.
The Tribal Marine Stewardship Network, which supports IMSAs along the California coast, describes the initiatives as promoting "inter-tribal government collaboration and assertion of tribally designated stewardship" in tribal waters.
"The Rancherias' inclusion of Yurok ancestral territory in their marine stewardship area is an affront to the Yurok people who refused to give up on the dream of a sovereign Yurok Nation despite tremendous hardships," Yurok Vice Chairman Rose Sylvia said.
