Ancestral site on California coast finally returns to local tribes
Indigenous leaders started ownership process to stop looting, damage in 2005
The small footprint of a Northern California site recently returned to local tribes belies its powerful cultural importance. The land stretches one half mile along a beach near the community of Westport, with a little over 100 additional acres sloping up the hillside and above Highway 1. To the Indigenous leaders of the Kai Poma nonprofit that recently received the land back from the state, the area is rich in historic and cultural significance. These Native community members have been part of a relentless effort to regain ownership of the beach and protect it from looting and damage since 2005, according to reporting by Mongabay.
The coalition behind Kai Poma includes ancestral descendants from the Coastal Yuki and Yuki people, today represented by the Coyote Valley Band of Pomo Indians, the Round Valley Indian Tribes and the Sherwood Valley Band of Pomo Indians.
The coastline represents a sacred place where the origin story of the local tribes is rooted, and remains of their ancestors are buried beneath the terraced part of the parcel towering above the Pacific Ocean. The California Department of Transportation gave the territory back to the tribes with the requirement that the area now known as Blues Beach remain open to the public.
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