Tribes designate a marine stewardship area in Northern California

Last week, three tribal nations declared the designation of a marine stewardship area in Northern California. 

The protected area covers nearly 700 square miles of the tribes’ ancestral ocean and coastal lands, stretching from the California-Oregon border to just south of the seaside city of Trinidad in Humboldt County. 

A map of the Yurok and Tolowa Dee-ni' Indigenous Marine Stewardship Area.Courtesy Resighini Tribe of Yurok People

Megan Rocha is the executive director of the Resighini Tribe of Yurok People, one of the tribes involved in the effort. She said this plan is part of a larger effort to recognize the use of tribes’ traditional knowledge, combined with new scientific practices, when protecting marine environments.  

“Tribal stewardship is conservation,” she said. 

“It leans into the tribes’ sovereignty and is being designated under the constitutional and governance authority of these federally recognized tribes,” she said. 

This IMSA is the first of its kind in the United States. Rocha said the three tribes involved — the Resighini Tribe of Yurok People, the Tolowa Dee-ni' Nation and the Cher-Ae Heights Indian Community of the Trinidad Rancheria — took inspiration from similar work led by Indigenous nations in Australia and Canada who have recently established marine protection areas, like the Tsawout First Nation. 

Although the tribes involved are still establishing what actions will accompany the new designation, Rocha described the IMSA as an important reminder of the right of tribes to be stewards of their ancestral lands. 

“While tribes seek to partner with state and federal entities, tribes also have the inherent responsibility and sovereign authority to govern on their own right under their own authority,” she said. 

Jaytuck Steinruck, treasurer for the Tolowa Dee-ni’ Nation, said the designation also helps make clear the deep connection tribes continue to have with their ancestral waters. He said this connection is expansive and not tied to state borders. 

“When people ask, you know, what's your ancestral waters? [They’re] as far as you can see,” he said. “There's no limit out there … the state ends at three miles, but ours doesn't.” 

Last year, a group of tribes launched the Tribal Marine Stewards Network. Rocha said this effort is a continuation of that work, which supports tribal co-management of ancestral coast and ocean territories along California. 

California officials have previously identified IMSAs as one way for the state to reach its goal to conserve 30% of state lands and waters by 2030. Rocha says the tribes involved will have conversations with the state about this IMSA and how it will factor into those goals.