KarunaNews Story

More than 17,000 acres around the Klamath River in Northern California have returned to the Yurok Tribe, completing the largest landback deal in California history. The tribe, which lost almost all its territory when the California gold rush began, has been working with the nonprofit Western Rivers Conservancy to get its land back for two decades and has designated the land as a salmon sanctuary and community forest. The conservancy, which acquired the land in pieces from a timber company, is happy that Blue Creek, a cold-water tributary 16 miles from the mouth of the river, is protected because it provides an essential place for salmon and steelhead to cool off before heading upstream to spawn. In 2020, Blue Creek was where the Yurok persuaded PacifiCorp officials to move forward with dam removal.