The InterTribal Sinkyone Wilderness Council held an intertribal cultural event at Richardson Grove State Park on Saturday, August 29. Around 75 Tribal members from throughout the region, along with leaders from local environmental organizations, attended the private event. The Council organized and sponsored the event as an afternoon of traditional prayer and song by the Indian people of the redwood region who came together to recognize, honor, and pray for their relation the Kahs-tcho (redwood tree). The event included Tribal and environmental activist speakers who talked about the spiritual relationship between people and redwood trees and the need to protect Richardson Grove.

In attendance were Tribal members of Sinkyone, Nongatl, Wailaki, Lassik, Cahto, Yuki, Coast Yuki, Nomlaki, Pomo, Chilula, Yurok, Hoopa, and other California Indian ancestries. The Council cooked a lunch of Indian frybread with all the toppings for everyone. Round Valley Indian Tribes’ representative to the Sinkyone Council, Ronald W. Lincoln, Sr., emceed the event. Pomo singers from Point Arena offered blessing and prayer songs for the event and Yurok activist and storyteller Jene McCovey shared her perspectives on why the redwood is so important to human people, as well as her people’s stories about the redwood tree. Council representatives, including chairperson Priscilla Hunter and executive director Hawk Rosales, explained their organization’s opposition to Caltrans’ proposal to widen the highway through the Grove, which they say would damage and likely kill some of the ancient redwoods.

The Caltrans-planned project is designed to allow larger freight trucks to travel through the Grove without special permits, thereby supposedly boosting Humboldt County’s economy. Caltrans also promises that the project would reduce the occurrence of accidents in the Grove. Several conservation groups have provided comments and cited data that cast serious doubts on these claims.

Perry Lincoln, a Wailaki member of Round Valley Indian Tribes, spoke about the need to keep Native traditions alive, including Indian languages and the people’s connection to special places like Richardson Grove. Redwood activist Sharon Duggan shared her experiences in growing up among the redwoods of Southern Humboldt and how these trees have become so important to her. Duggan, an attorney based in the Bay Area, was instrumental in achieving permanent protection for the redwoods of the InterTribal Sinkyone Wilderness and the Headwaters Forest. She noted that less than 96% of the region’s original old growth redwoods are still standing. Ronald W. Lincoln, Sr. and 6 other Wailaki singers from Round Valley sang a series of closing prayer songs and led a spiritual walk that concluded the event. Walkers traversed the Grove’s trails to Highway 101 and stopped to pray for and pay tribute to the ancient trees that line the roadway.

The Council became engaged in the Richardson Grove issue due to local Tribal concerns that the Grove’s ancient redwoods needed to be defended against Caltran’s planned project. The Council’s position is that “Since time immemorial the ancient Kahs-cho (redwood trees) of Richardson Grove have been considered sacred by the Indian peoples of this region. Long before the arrival of the first non-Natives, the Nahs-lin-che keah people inhabited this area of Sinkyoko (S. Fork Eel River), including the place that later became known as Richardson Grove.” The Council’s letter of opposition to Caltrans proposed project can be read online at: www.treesfoundation.org/affiliates/update-102

The Council and others are demanding that Caltrans adopt the No Build Alternative and implement traffic slowing measures, rather than waste an estimated $6 million of taxpayers’ money on what they say is an unnecessary project that would cause irreparable damage to the Grove’s sacred, ancient trees. The trees are considered to be an irreplaceable part of the traditional cultural heritage of the Tribal peoples of this region.

The Sinkyone Council and its allies are determined to stand and defend the Kahs-cho of Richardson Grove, because on their own the redwood trees cannot protect themselves. Tribal members have promised to engage in direct action, including civil disobedience in order to defend the Grove. Their hope is to attract international media to bring greater attention to and wider support for their fight to protect the Grove for present and future generations of all people.

Submitted by InterTribal Sinkyone Wilderness Council

PHOTO COURTESY OF HAWK ROSALES

Wailaki singers from Round Valley Indian Tribes at the intertribal cultural event held at Richardson Grove on August 29.