Fall 2023
PFT Partners with the Southern Sierra Miwuk Nation
Sitting on the Henness Ridge, just above the Yosemite Valley, with magnificent views of the Wild and Scenic Merced River and across the Central Valley to the California coast, is a land of enormous cultural as well as natural significance. John Muir envisioned it as part of a National Park. But before that, this place was part of the treasured ancestral homelands of the Southern Sierra Miwuk people.
With the advance of European settlement and private land ownership, these magnificent sugar pine forests stewarded by the Miwuk and celebrated by Muir were logged by the Yosemite Lumber Company (YLC) and the lush native grasslands and oaks became fodder for cattle and firewood. The Southern Sierra Miwuk were expelled from their homes here and in the Valley as well. When almost a thousand acres of these lands were going to be sold yet again, Pacific Forest Trust stepped up to buy and protect them. After transferring a portion of these to the Park in 2014, PFT is now partnering with the Southern Sierra Miwuk Nation (SSMN) to return some 900 acres to their ownership with the goal of re-establishing the tribe in a portion of their Yosemite homelands. PFT and the SSMN are jointly fundraising to complete this historic project, aiming to complete the return of the lands to tribal stewardship by the end of 2024.
“We need to have this significant piece of our ancestral Yosemite land back to bring our community together
and benefit our children and grandchildren. It will be a sanctuary for our people,” says Southern Sierra Miwuk Nation’s Tribal Council Chair and elder Sandra Chapman.
Bridging a gap between Yosemite National Park and the Sierra National Forest, the property is also home to significant biodiversity, lush forests, meadows, springs, and an ancient trail leading from the oak woodlands of the Central Valley to the high country of Yosemite. The project will permanently conserve and connect habitats across public-private boundaries on Henness Ridge, facilitating movement across this strategic location for plants and animals adapting to climate change.
Deeply committed to a caring relationship with the land, the Tribe envisions Henness Ridge as a place of healing for both people and nature. Tribal stewardship will restore and enhance natural climate resilience using traditional practices such as cultivating culturally significant plants and eradicating non-native invasives, restoring more natural forests (characterized by well-spaced large, older trees), fire-adapted habitats (including by the use of cultural fire), and protecting water quality and flows from the headwaters of two tributaries on the property that flow into the wild and scenic South Fork Merced River. The project’s easy access and proximity to the highly visited National Park also provides a unique platform for public education on the multiple benefits of indigenous “climate-smart” land stewardship.
In addition to re-establishing of Southern Sierra Miwuk Nation as the stewards of Henness Ridge, this project promotes the revitalization of indigenous knowledge and cultural practices. Another goal of the project is to support and strengthen the Tribe’s case for federal recognition, an ongoing pursuit since 1982, as a land base supports concrete historical and cultural ties, enables self-governance, supports economic and resource management, preserves cultural practices, fosters government-to-government relations, and enhances political and legal standing.
More in this Issue of ForestLife
- President’s Letter: Endurance and Ambition
- Shasta Timberlands: Reweaving Nature’s Tapestry for Wildlife, Climate, and a Sustained Economy
- Restoring Natural Fire Regimes for a Safer Future: PFT’s FIre Management
- Donor Highlight: the Van Ecks
- From Victim to Savior? Forests and other Lands as Natural Climate Solutions
- Demonstrating a New Relationship with Fire to Benefit Forest Ecosystems and Communities