California redwoods gateway is returned to Indigenous tribe. 'That's healing our people too'

This is read by an automated voice.Please report any issues or inconsistencies here.

See more from the L.A.Times in Google Search.

Set us as preferred This fog-shrouded patch of coastal forest in the heart of Yurok Country was tended by the tribe for millennia.But in the Gold Rush era it was taken away and, later, used by the logging industry, reshaping the landscape.Now, as the land heals from the scars of a long-running lumber mill, it has been returned to its original stewards, who will operate it as a public gateway to Redwood National and State Parks about 50 miles south of the Oregon border.Save the Redwoods League last month conveyed the 125-acre property to the Yurok Tribe following a years-long project to restore the degraded industrial site to a diverse riparian habitat.It opens to the public Saturday as ‘O Rew Redwoods Gateway, which features interpretive exhibits and trails leading to old-growth redwood groves.The announcement comes as California’s most populous Indigenous nation works to reclaim its homelands, a mission inscribed in its constitution.

The Yurok Tribe has so far regained 60,000 acres — about 12% — of its 500,000-acre ancestral territory, which stretches along the North Coast and the Klamath River, according to a spokesman.The majority was returned in a series of transactions that culminated last year in what is thought to be the largest “land back” deal in state history.The gateway’s ‘O Rew name doesn’t have a direct translation in English, said Rosie Clayburn, director of the Yurok Tribe’s Cultural Resources Department.

The land is known as a place where trails come together, she said.It sits at the confluence of Prairie Creek and Redwood Creek, important fish-bearing streams where Yurok people once caught steelhead and salmon.But the Yurok lost 90% of their land, including ‘O Rew, during the Gold Rush.

Although many families stayed — Clayburn calls it an “attempted colonization” — they endured ...