Why an ambitious 300-mile trail in Northern California distresses some Native Americans

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Set us as preferred The murky, magnificent Eel River was once a highway for the Wailaki people, who navigated by canoe and hauled goods between villages in cone-shaped baskets.But the tribe was forced out during the Gold Rush and, decades later, a railroad was built along the river in this verdant stretch of Humboldt County.Perry Lincoln, whose grandmother came from one of those villages, today sees another affront — the Great Redwood Trail, a 307-mile path planned along the remnants of the long-gone railroad that cuts through his ancestral land.When they first learned of the project a few years ago, he says, some people, both Native and non-Native, thought: “But wait a minute, this is kind of wrong.

You’re just kind of shoving it down our throats.” A line on the T-shirt Lincoln wore summed up his feelings: “No trail on my ancestors’ bones.”Tribal members and allies formed a group, the Kinest’e Community Coalition, to have a say in the project, protect sacred sites and ultimately reroute the trail.They maintain the state approved a path that will allow tourists to amble over graves without their consent.

Fueling further outrage, it was exempted from the California Environmental Quality Act, which requires tribal consultation.1 2 1.

Perry Lincoln, a member of the Wailaki Tribe, is active in cultural education programs for tribal youth on the Round Valley and Hoopa reservations.He hopes to bring a group of students to this location along the Eel River in Fortuna in the fall, when hundreds of spawning salmon stage in the calm waters before completing their journeys upstream.

Lincoln is concerned that the Great Redwood Trail will disturb historic tribal sites in the Eel River Canyon and advocates for an alternative route that would diverge from the railroad line.2.

A cafe sign stands over Garberville, C...