A breathtaking 136-acre stretch of pristine Northern California coastline newly handed back to Indigenous tribes is proposed to become a place for ceremonies — and for teaching younger generations how to live off the land and sea.
The rugged Mendocino County property — which includes Blues Beach and an ancient village site known at K’etim — was transferred by California transportation officials to Kai Poma, a tribal nonprofit, after a decades-long battle to reclaim the ancestral land.
The nonprofit represents the Sherwood Valley Band of Pomo Indians, Round Valley Indian Tribes and Coyote Valley Band of Pomo Indians.
Now, tribal leaders have revealed more about what they hope to do with their newly reclaimed slice of coastal paradise.
“We want to protect the natural habitat,” Eddie Knight, chairman of Kai Poma and historic preservation officer for Coyote Valley Band of Pomo Indians, told environmental news outlet Mongabay.
Knight, who is of Coastal Yuki descent, said leaders want to teach young tribal members “how to harvest our native foods, our sea foods, our seaweeds, our kelps and how to fish.”
“Allowing our youth to get an idea of how they can use it in the future and use it now,” he added. “It’s going to take a little time, but we do have a plan.”
The shoreline will remain open to the public, and under the terms of the deed transfer from Caltrans to Kai Poma, the stretch of sand must stay accessible to everyone, with zero admission fees.
Commercial development is also prohibited, and if the nonprofit fails to maintain the site or dissolves, the land reverts back to Caltrans.
For the Coastal Yuki, the plot of land was an ancient village site reportedly holding centuries of buried ancestors and deep origin lore involving the Seaweed Woman and Coyote.
The tribe’s quest to control the bluffs began in 2005, when members discovered that grave robbers and off-road truck drivers were tearing through the dunes, pillaging artifacts and unearthing human remains.
Caltrans dismissed the requests to step in for years until state Senate leader Mike McGuire passed legislation allowing the highway authority to hand over the land for free in 2021.
“It’s enormous from our tribal perspective that we are basically obtaining the land that our people once lived on before colonization,” J. Carlos Rivera, tribal chairman of the Sherwood Valley Band of Pomo Indians, told the Los Angeles Times.
The state originally acquired the shoreline and cliffs in the 1960s to support the expansion of Highway 1 and establish a scenic overlook for motorists, according to a California Coastal Commission report.
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