YUROK TRIBE United States of America, Yurok Ancestral Territory

Equator Initiative Case Studies Local sustainable development solutions for people, nature, and resilient communities UNDP EQUATOR INITIATIVE CASE STUDY SERIES

Local and Indigenous communities across the world are solutions (NBS) for climate change and local sustainable advancing innovative sustainable development solutions development. Selected from 847 nominations from across that work for people and for nature. Few publications 127 countries, the winners were celebrated at a gala event or case studies tell the full story of how such initiatives in New York, coinciding with UN Climate Week and the evolve, the breadth of their impacts, or how they change 74th Session of the UN General Assembly. The winners are over time. Fewer still have undertaken to tell these stories sustainably protecting, restoring, and managing forests, with community practitioners themselves guiding the farms, wetlands, and marine ecosystems to mitigate narrative. The Equator Initiative aims to fill that gap. greenhouse gas emissions, help communities adapt to The Equator Initiative, supported by generous funding from climate change, and create a green new economy. Since the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation 2002, the Equator Prize has been awarded to 245 initiatives. and Development (BMZ) and the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD), awarded the The following case study is one in a growing series that Equator Prize 2019 to 22 outstanding local community describes vetted and peer-reviewed best practices and Indigenous peoples initiatives from 16 countries. Each intended to inspire the policy dialogue needed to of the 22 winners represents outstanding community and scale nature-based solutions essential to achieving the Indigenous initiatives that are advancing nature-based Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). PROJECT SUMMARY KEY FACTS

The Yurok Tribe, native to northern California in Equator Prize winner Founded the United States of America, demonstrates how 2019 Time Immemorial; inherent and contemporary tribal sovereignty, Yurok Tribal Council sustainable forest management, climate change established 1993 mitigation, and cultural resilience can be advanced through tribal innovation and collaboration. The Location Yurok Tribe once effectively managed more than Yurok Ancestral Territory, Klamath, California, United 200,000 hectares of territory, but historic illegal land States of America grabs and non-tribal government policies left the Beneficiaries Tribe with stewardship rights to only 10 percent of its ancestral land. In a ground-breaking partnership 6,300 tribal members to secure new forms of finance, the Yurok Tribe has Thematic areas allied with the state government of California to sell Forest conservation/sustainable development; Land forest carbon offsets from its sustainably managed rights and tenure security; Preservation of Indigenous or forests. Through participation in California’s cap-and- traditional knowledge trade programme, the Yurok Tribe has reacquired approximately 22,000 hectares of ancestral land from Fields of work a large timber company, providing trend-setting Carbon credit scheme; Ecosystem restoration; financial alternatives for ecosystem restoration and Sustainable forestry protection. These initiatives are interwoven with century-long efforts to protect tribal livelihoods Sustainable Development Goals addressed and cultures, as the Yurok Indigenous people view their identity, culture, and livelihoods as deeply interconnected with nature.

EQUATOR PRIZE 2019 WINNER FILM

The depiction and use of boundaries and related information shown on maps or included in text of this document are not guaranteed to be free from error, nor do they imply official acceptance or recognition by the United Nations. BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT

The Yurok Tribe has inhabited and managed the forests, 1700s, fur-trapping expeditions in Yurok territory ushered rivers, and coastal areas along the northern Pacific Coast of in an era of land grabs and disease spreading. In 1855, the California in the United States of America (United States) United States government issued an executive order that since time immemorial. The Klamath and Trinity rivers, confined the Tribe to a smaller reservation. Subsequent which flow across tribal Ancestral Territory, have long non-Indigenous settlement by homesteaders, timber functioned as a food source and a site of ceremonial and companies, and gold miners further diminished the Yurok spiritual importance for the Yurok Indigenous people. Tribe’s stewardship rights, leaving approximately just 10 percent of original ancestral land and degrading the Winding its way through arid regions in Oregon to reach surrounding ecosystem. northern California’s redwood groves, the 414-kilometre- long Klamath River is a vital migratory pathway for Despite a rich history of Indigenous resistance and Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha), steelhead resilience, structural challenges still persist on the Yurok trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss), and threatened coho salmon Reservation. Unemployment and poverty rates remain (Oncorhynchus kisutch). Towering coastal redwoods high, with approximately 35 percent of tribal members (Sequoia sempervirens), the world’s tallest trees and listed living below the federal poverty line and unemployment as endangered on the International Union for Conservation rates of up to 80 percent in some areas. Many residents of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, as well as have very limited access to basic goods, services, electric- Douglas firs (Pseudotsuga menziesii), Sitka spruces (Picea ity, and employment. sitchensis), and western hemlocks (Tsuga heterophylla) provide a shaded canopy to many parts of the Yurok During recent years, the Yurok Tribe has initiated several Reservation and Yurok Ancestral Territory. The region’s programmes to innovate green jobs, create much-needed high cliff faces function as future nest sites for the housing, enhance sustainable economic opportunities, planned reintroduction of California condors (Gymnogyps and protect natural and cultural resources for future californianus), listed as critically endangered on the IUCN generations. As a result of these efforts, the Yurok Tribe has Red List. The Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF) emerged as an internationally respected Indigenous leader lists the California Floristic Province as a biodiversity in carbon sequestration, aquatic resource conservation, hotspot. nation building, governance, and forest management. The Yurok Tribe’s sustainable development initiatives not only Though the Yurok Tribe’s ancestral land once spanned provide opportunities for economic growth and increased 200,000 hectares, the reservation boundary was reduced tribal sovereignty, they also reflect the Yurok’s identity, to 22,700 hectares. This ancestral land loss is a result of culture, and livelihood, which are fundamentally entwined land dispossession through European colonization and with the land. actions by corporate and private parties. During the Origin and structure

The Yurok Tribal Council was formally established in of Chinook salmon and other species, as well as respon- 1993. That same year, the Yurok Constitution was drafted, sibility for forest management from the United States codifying the Yurok’s commitment to effective and federal government. The Yurok Fisheries and Forestry culturally based natural resource protection. After the departments were established to assume these responsi- Yurok Constitution was signed, the Yurok Tribe continued bilities and functions. Other natural resource departments inherent management of its federally recognized fisheries were established, including the Yurok Tribe Environmental 4 Program, Watershed Restoration, Wildlife, and Wildland and procedures of contemporary tribal government. Fire departments. Women have played a crucial role in the Yurok Tribal Government since its establishment, currently occupying The Yurok Tribal Council, led by a non-voting Chairperson four of the nine Yurok Tribal Council positions. Women also and Vice Chairperson, is comprised of nine voting positions, provide expertise through technical staff positions and each representing one voting district. Tribal citizen play cultural roles in furthering the self-determination and participation is central to the decision-making processes nation-building actions of the Yurok Tribe.

5 LOCAL CHALLENGES

Native American genocide in California

The 19th-Century arrival of European populations to Yurok political, educational, legal, and health outcomes com- Ancestral Territory posed grave challenges to the Yurok pared to other California communities. The Yurok Tribe Tribe’s way of life. During the 1850s, the government of has implemented programmes to address social and California passed legislation that allowed Native Americans economic challenges, including drug addiction, law and to be separated from their children and sold into indentured justice issues, and the opioid crisis. Suicide epidemics have servitude. Western schooling was forced upon Yurok also swept the community, with tribal leaders and com- children, resulting in a significant loss of language and munities finding contemporary and traditional solutions culture. Historical land grabs directly challenged Indigenous to building health and wellness initiatives both on and land tenure and tribal sovereignty. off the reservation. The Tribe continues to invest in community programming that focuses on addressing pressing In 2019, California’s Governor acknowledged the state’s mental health, domestic violence, and social exclusion history of “violence, maltreatment, and neglect” against issues. The Yurok Tribe recognizes the critical importance Native Americans, and issued an apology for the genocide. of natural resources management to rebuilding and stabi- Yet, colonization continues to exact an ongoing, intergen- lizing the critical roles of Indigenous Peoples both locally erational toll on the Yurok Tribe. Tribal communities living and globally. on the reservation experience specific socio-economic, Forest degradation and overexploitation of land

During the past 200 years, native fish, wildlife, and forest rapidly developed near the reservation, leaving residues species populations surrounding the Yurok Ancestral of harmful chemicals, including hydraulic fluid. Clear-cut Territory have been devastated by overexploitation. The logging starting during the 1950s and 1960s led to soil Gold Rush during the 1850s brought a flurry of mining erosion, which clouded the rivers and their salmon- activity, which polluted the region’s waterways. In the spawning grounds. wake of World War II, an unregulated logging industry Declining fish populations

Salmon are of great cultural importance for the Yurok Klamath Basin by ranchers and farmers. Among the affected Tribe, playing a vital role in ceremonies, livelihoods, and species were Chinook salmon (Nue-mee ney-puy in the the traditional diet. During recent years, however, salmon Yurok language); Pacific lamprey Entosphenus( tridentatus or runs have declined to historic lows due to development, key’-ween in the Yurok language); green sturgeon (Acipenser excessive logging, and dam building. In 2002, the Klamath medirostris or kah-kah in the Yurok language), listed as River was devastated by an unprecedented fish-kill event, near threatened on the IUCN Red List; and steelhead trout which left an estimated 34,000 aquatic species dead from (chkwohl in the Yurok language). The fish kill also impacted gill rot disease. The event was caused by a combination coho salmon (ney-puy in the Yurok language), whose of detrimental factors, including warmer waters, low river Klamath River populations are considered threatened flows due to dam regulation, and water diversions to the under the United States Endangered Species Act.

6 During most years, members of the Yurok Tribe have been water quantity and quality, these devastating fish kills have allocated fall-run Chinook salmon for subsistence. After functioned as a call to action for the Yurok Tribe. In 2019, another fish-kill event in 2014, the entire fishery harvest the Yurok Tribal Council declared rights of personhood for was voluntarily closed to protect the fall-run Chinook the Klamath River, becoming likely the first tribe to do so populations. With climate change projected to further in North America. increase river water temperatures, as well as impacting Climate change

Climate change represents an ecological and cultural Warmer Pacific Ocean temperatures are also projected threat to the Yurok Tribe, as well as the salmon and aquatic to increase algal blooms along the Yurok territory’s populations that sustain tribal members’ way of life. As air coastline, creating low-oxygen conditions in the water and temperatures rise, snowpack will melt earlier, resulting producing toxins. Meanwhile, the fire season is expected in reduced flows in the Klamath River during the spring to become longer, more frequent, and more severe, posing and summer. While higher river flows typically wash away threats to the region’s towering forests. parasites, low river flows increase the infection risk for fish. Air temperatures will also result in warmer water, which Climate change will impact traditional ways of life and contains less dissolved oxygen and affects fish metabolism tribal health. The Yurok Tribe Climate Change Health rates. Juvenile and adult salmon are unable to survive in Assessment highlighted eight health concerns associated water warmer than 25 degrees Celsius. Warmer waters with climate change, including waterborne pathogens, and lower river levels associated with climate change pose shellfish poisoning, mental health, and multigenerational threats to salmon and other aquatic species, increasing trauma. risks to the Tribe’s traditional food security.

7 LOCAL RESPONSES

Collective action on natural resource management and carbon sequestration

Recognizing that climate change poses a threat to the Formalizing its longstanding history of sustainable forest ecosystems upon which they depend, members of the management, the Yurok Tribe now participates in the Yurok Tribe have continued to lead on climate mitigation California Cap-and-Trade Program through its Improved through carbon sequestration efforts. Across the Yurok Forest Management projects. The California Air Resources Ancestral Territory, forests are filled with native trees, in- Board (CARB) issues the Yurok Tribe one offset credit for

cluding Douglas firs, redwoods, tanoaks Notholithocarpus( every metric tonne of CO2 equivalent the Tribe removes densiflorus), and Giant chinquapins (Chrysolepis chryso- from the atmosphere through forest-based carbon phylla). These forests function as carbon sinks, absorbing sequestration. These carbon offset credits can then be

carbon dioxide (CO2), a greenhouse gas (GHG) that causes sold to regulated industries or others through California’s climate change. compliance or voluntary programmes.

Serving as a model, in 2011, the Yurok Tribe became the The Yurok Tribe derives a significant amount of its tribal first Native American tribe to participate in California’s government non-grant income from the Cap-and-Trade Cap-and-Trade Program. Cap-and-trade programmes, Program. A portion of the revenues from cap-and-trade which are also known as ‘carbon markets,’ aim to reduce market participation has financed a recent reacquisition GHG emissions by setting a cap on emissions and enabling of ancestral land from a large timber company, furthering the trading of carbon instruments (allowances or offsets). the Yurok Tribe’s goal of tribal sovereignty and self- Over time, the State of California will constrict GHG caps determination. The revenue also assists natural resources to incentivize further emissions reductions through management programmes, tribal social services, and increased efficiencies. other areas of need in community programming.

“I think when we make decisions about the future, we often try to look to our past. And really that’s how we have built a Tribe like we have. We look to what our ancestors have done before us to help guide us into the future. I think these new economies of working sustainably within your world to make a living . . . I think that’s the oldest economy there ever was.” Frankie Myers, Vice Chair, Yurok Tribal Council

8 KEY IMPACTS Collective action on natural resource management and carbon sequestration

■ The Yurok Tribe engages in the active, sustainable forest management of 18,100 hectares of forested lands. Carbon credits are issued by the State of California’s Air Resource Board (CARB). ■ The Yurok Tribe has sold millions of US dollars’ worth of forest carbon offsets to compliance and voluntary entities. ■ To date, CARB had issued nearly 3 million offset credits to the Yurok Tribe. In April 2014, CARB issued more than 800,000 offset credits, worth an estimated US$6 million to $8 million, to the Yurok Tribe. ■ Income from the Cap-and-Trade Program has enabled reacquisition of approximately 22,000 hectares of land within Yurok Ancestral Territory from a privately-owned timber company. ■ Participation in the Cap-and-Trade Program has provided the opportunity for the Yurok Tribe to undertake successful partnerships between other tribal governments and nations, subnational governments, university institutions, and non-governmental partners.

Reacquisition of ancestral land to restore forests and aquatic environments

To regain land stolen from its people through colonization, into a protected sanctuary for fish and wildlife, as well as the Yurok Tribe has developed a strategy to buy back land preserve significant cultural lifeways. and gain official land tenure through state laws. The Yurok Tribe has completed several land acquisitions to regain Land reacquisition provides economic opportunities for tribal ancestral land, restore forest and aquatic ecosystems, and members to participate in a restoration-based economy, further the goal of tribal sovereignty. rather than a resource extraction-based economy. The Yurok Tribe has developed a sustainable forestry management For example, in partnership with the Western Rivers strategy, both restoring and rehabilitating forests within and Conservancy, the Yurok Tribe assumed primary steward- outside Ancestral Territory. The Tribe has also implemented ship of the lower Blue Creek watershed, a tributary of the sustainable forestry to provide jobs and economic security Klamath River that was heavily logged during the last for tribal members. In both of these instances, the Yurok Tribe century. By reacquiring approximately 10,100 hectares has incorporated traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) into of land within and adjacent to the Yurok Reservation, its forest management practices, integrating practices such the Tribe was able to transform a critical salmon habitat as cultural burning to enhance growth of basket-making materials, traditional foods, and medicines.

KEY IMPACTS Reacquisition of ancestral land to restore forests and aquatic environments

■ The Yurok Tribe has reacquired 10,100 hectares of ancestral territory and other lands within and adjacent to the Blue Creek watershed, an ecologically critical tributary to the Klamath River. ■ The Yurok Tribe currently protects more than 25,500 hectares of terrestrial areas. ■ Ultimately, the Yurok Tribe aims to reacquire more than 405,000 hectares of traditionally held ancestral land.

9 Community programming

The Yurok Tribe has implemented a range of programmes The Yurok Tribe facilitates women’s empowerment and to promote social inclusion and traditional Indigenous leadership events, including educational, policy, and values for all ages. The Youth Employment Services technical training to work in natural resources areas, programme offers young people skills trainings to as well as a 2016 trip to Doctor Rock, a sacred place for prepare for future employment, while Social Services women to acquire healing powers. Other initiatives offers leadership and development activities. The Yurok include traditional cultural burning strategies and Youth programme teaches traditional values and healthy the implementation of cultural fire usage in forestry lifestyles through group sessions on self-esteem building management. Yurok women participate in the North Coast and teen pregnancy prevention. chapter of Women Empowering Women for Indian Nations (WEWIN), which has recognized several Yurok women for Community services are also provided for elder generations. their service to the community. The Yurok Tribe’s Domestic As part of a programme focused on cultural preservation, Violence and Sexual Assault Program provides legal Yurok elders have been interviewed about their traditional assistance to victims of domestic violence. ecological knowledge (TEK) and how the Tribe might develop culturally appropriate models for integrating TEK The Yurok Tribe also provides funding for mental health into climate change decision-making. Recently, the Yurok awareness, supporting traditional cultural life ways skills Tribe initiated a series of Elder Listening Sessions to allow and wellness initiatives to empower communities. These community elders to provide direct feedback on services efforts represent the importance of funding traditional that support their health and well-being. activities and restore systems of wellness and health.

KEY IMPACTS Community programming

■ Investment in youth, elders, and communities supports vocational and technical needs for a vibrant workforce. ■ Programming provides opportunities to share Yurok experiences of community empowerment with other tribal governments and Indigenous communities. ■ Programmes support the vital idea that Indigenous communities’ lands and natural resources are directly linked to Indigenous communities’ health.

“The Yurok Tribe has always been here on the Klamath River since the beginning of time. The Tribe has lived in villages along the northern California coast . . . and along the lower 45 miles of the Klamath River. We’ve never been relocated. We’ve always been here, and we will always be here.” Amy Cordalis, Yurok Tribe General Counsel

10 DATA, MONITORING, AND REPORTING

The Yurok Tribe’s initiatives support multiple goals of the prey availability, and pathogen levels. YTFP publishes its Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), including Article findings in peer-reviewed scientific journals and makes its (7) on Identification and Monitoring. The Yurok Tribe technical reports and memorandums publicly available. engages in extensive biodiversity monitoring through both data collection and reporting activities that measure The Yurok Tribe’s forestry staff oversees inventory of its initiatives’ impacts. For example, the Yurok Tribe forests to estimate carbon stocks for California’s Cap-and- monitors its aquatic and terrestrial interventions. Since the Trade Program. Impacts from timber harvests, fires, and early 1990s, the Yurok Tribal Fisheries Program (YTFP) has other forest disturbances are documented, while sample researched and monitored fish populations through four plots are measured to estimate overall growth of the forest administrative divisions: Harvest Management Division, population. Regular measurement and monitoring are Lower Klamath River Division, Trinity River Division, and crucial for accurate quantification of carbon sequestration. Klamath River Division. YTFP assesses the health of fish Carbon storage is estimated according to protocols from populations through outmigrant trapping, spawning the Climate Action Reserve. This information is digitized surveys, and regional and single-stream abundance and stored by the Yurok Tribe’s geographic information surveys. The Lower Klamath Division, for example, analyses system (GIS) staff. factors limiting salmonid production, such as water quality,

11 POLICY IMPACTS

National policy impacts

The Yurok Tribe’s work is influencing policy at local and altered the way the State of California interacts with national levels. For example, the Yurok Tribe recently other Native American tribes on a legal and policy level, collaborated with the California Air Resources Board while providing an opportunity for further partnerships (CARB) to influence subnational policy by piloting the between nations, states, and tribal governments. carbon offsetting programme. This collaboration has Contributions to the global agenda

At the global level, the Yurok Tribe supports the imple- plans support ABT 2, which states that biodiversity values mentation of several important multilateral agreements, are integrated into national and local development, as including the United Nations Framework Convention well as poverty reduction strategies. on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (2030 Agenda). The Yurok The work of the Yurok Tribe likewise contributes to the Tribe also issued a formal tribal resolution supporting the achievement of numerous Sustainable Development United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda. For example, the Yurok Peoples (UNDRIP). Tribe’s innovative approach to natural resource and forest management addresses several environmentally related The Yurok Tribe’s work contributes to the Aichi Biodiversity SDGs, including the goals of climate action (SDG 13), Targets (ABTs), key global 2011-2020 biodiversity priorities. life below water (SDG 14), and life on land (SDG 15). By The Yurok Tribe’s work fuses traditional ecological reinvesting revenues from the Cap-and-Trade Program, knowledge (TEK) and cultural values with scientific the Yurok Tribe further supports community programming principles. This supports ABT 18, which highlights the that works towards quality education (SDG 4) and reduced need to respect traditional knowledge, innovations, and inequalities (SDG 10). The reacquisition of ancestral land practices of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities supports sub-goals related to land ownership and control (IPLCs). The Yurok Tribe’s partnership with California’s Cap- of the broader goal of no poverty (SDG 1), while the and-Trade Program supports ABT 14, which safeguards economic growth generated by sustainable development ecosystems by taking into account the “needs of women, initiatives supports the goals of both no poverty (SDG 1) Indigenous and local communities, and the poor and and zero hunger (SDG 2). vulnerable.” Moreover, the Yurok Tribe’s green growth

12 REPLICATION, SCALABILITY, AND SUSTAINABILITY

Replication

Having created a replicable model of collaborative climate government representatives from developing countries action, the Yurok Tribe is committed to forging alliances to the Yurok Reservation to share best practices and and sharing its experiences with other nations, states, envision how the Yurok model could be replicated in other and Indigenous and community groups around the jurisdictions. world. Since 2017, the Tribe has welcomed subnational Scalability

Following the success of the Yurok Tribe’s partnership with Communities’ through the Governor’s Climate and Forests the California Air Resource Board (CARB), new opportunities (GCF) Task Force. These principles were endorsed by 34 have emerged to scale up legal and procedural frameworks GCF member states, 18 representative Indigenous Peoples for tribal participation in forest carbon offset programmes. and Local Community organizations, and 17 civil society As of September 2020, more than 50 percent of all forest groups at the 2018 Global Climate Action Summit in San carbon offset credits issued under California’s Cap-and- Francisco. Trade Program have been issued by Native American Tribes and Alaska Native Corporations. This amounts to Internationally, Yurok leaders have participated in more than 78 million out of a total of 156 million forest numerous dialogues about climate change mitigation, carbon offset credits. Twelve other Native American tribes contributing to discussions about strengthening and Alaska Native Corporations from throughout the partnerships between governments, Indigenous Peoples, United States participate in California’s carbon market. and local communities. As part of this process, the Yurok Tribe has built strong relationships with international The Yurok Tribe has helped create a powerful model of Indigenous organizations, including the Coordination of engagement between tribal and state governments. This Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon Basin (COICA), model informed the landmark adoption of the ‘Guiding the Mesoamerican Alliance of Peoples and Forests (AMPB), Principles for Collaboration and Partnership Between and the Indigenous Alliance of the Archipelago (AMAN). Subnational Governments, Indigenous Peoples, and Local Sustainability

The financial success of the carbon credit programme will 2) An adaptive approach incorporates and learns permit the Yurok Tribe to sustainably protect its forests in from past experiences, while anticipating change. the long term. Beyond financial matters, the Yurok Tribe has articulated a strong vision of a resilient and adaptive 3) The Yurok Tribe has prioritized building internal approach for the present and future: institutional capacity in all aspects of governance. When engaging with external partners, the Yurok 1) “Clear vision and mission are articulated in the Tribe ensures that partnerships enhance the Yurok Tribal Government’s 1993 Constitution Tribe’s capacities and contribute to tribal sover- for Tribal sovereignty, self-determination, and eignty, rather than undermine tribal capabilities. sustainable natural resources management. 13 4) The Yurok Tribe integrates cultural values, 5) The Tribe engages in strategic partnerships traditional ecological knowledge (TEK), and that build tribal capacity and strengthen tribal best-available scientific information to inform governance.” resource management.

FUTURE PLANS

In the wake of the Cap-and-Trade Program’s success, the Yurok Tribe hopes to forge more partnerships to further the aims of climate mitigation, sustainable development, and tribal sovereignty for future generations.

PARTNERS

■ California Air Resources Board (CARB): Issues carbon Yurok Tribe’s natural resources management efforts. offset credits to the Yurok Tribe, provides partnership Furthers self-determination and tribal sovereignty in natural resource management, and supports the throughout various state agencies. systematic governmental inclusion of Indigenous ■ Governor’s Climate and Forest Task Force: Helped community and tribal governments. host international delegation meetings in the Yurok ■ Earth Innovation Institute: Provides technical Ancestral Territory, San Francisco, New York, Norway, expertise, supports information/data sharing of and other locations. Yurok management practices with Indigenous ■ University of Colorado Law School: Provides advice delegations, and supports participation in local, to the Yurok Tribe on legal, economic, and natural national, and international meetings. resources management strategies at the local, state, ■ Government of California: Supports the economic, and international levels. legislative, legal, cultural, and social initiatives of the

SOURCES AND FURTHER RESOURCES

American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). ‘Restoring Yurok forests and waters using traditional knowledge.’ 2019. Available online here.

Barboza, T. ‘Yurok tribe hopes California’s cap-and-trade can save a way of life.’ Los Angeles Times. 2014. Available online here.

California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW). ‘Pacific lamprey. Entosphenus tridentatus.’ 2020. Available online here.

Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF). ‘California Floristic Province.’ 2020. Available online here.

Do Nascimento, M. ‘Reclaiming the Klamath.’ Earth Justice. 2018. Available online here.

Fimrite, P. ‘Yurok Tribe revives ancestral lands by restoring salmon runs, protecting wildlife.’ San Francisco Chronicle. 2018. Available online here.

Governor’s Climate and Forests (GCF) Taskforce. ‘Guiding Principles for Collaboration and Partnership Between Subnational Governments, Indigenous Peoples, and Local Communities.’ 2018. Available online here.

14 Hayden, T. ‘Yurok Tribe comments on the proposed California Air Resources Board Tropical Forests Standard.’ [Letter correspondence]. 2019. Available online here.

International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species. ‘California condor. Gymnogyps californianus.’ 2018. Available online here.

International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species. ‘Green sturgeon. Acipenser medirostris.’ 2006. Available online here.

International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species. ‘Redwood. Sequoia sempervirens.’ 2013. Available online here.

Kormann, C. ‘How carbon trading became a way of life for California’s Yurok Tribe.’ The New Yorker. 2018. Available online here.

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Morehouse, L. ‘It takes our purpose: With no salmon, Yurok Tribe struggles with identity.’ National Public Radio. 2017. Available online here.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) Fisheries. ‘Klamath River Basin: 2017 report to congress.’ 2017. Available online here.

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15 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The Equator Initiative acknowledges with gratitude The Yurok Tribe, particularly Tim Hayden, Taralyn Ipina, and Matt Mais for their insight and support. All photos courtesy of The Yurok Tribe. Maps courtesy of United Nations Geospatial Information Section and Wikipedia.

Editors Editor-in-Chief: Anne LS Virnig Managing Editor: Amanda Bielawski Contributing Editors: Marion Marigo, Anna Medri, Martin Sommerschuh, Christina Supples, Adeline Thompson

Writer Mattea Mrkusic

Design Kimberly Koserowski

Suggested citation United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). ‘The Yurok Tribe, United States of America, Yurok Ancestral Territory.’ Equator Initiative Case Study Series. 2021. New York, NY.

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The Equator Initiative brings together the United Nations, governments, civil society, businesses, and grassroots organizations to recognize and advance local sustainable development solutions for people, nature, and resilient communities.