After 140 Years, the Wiyot Tribe Has Come Home for the First Time in U.S
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INTER SECTIONS Infrastructure Housing Land Use Transportation Et cetera Viewpoint LAND USE After 140 Years, the Wiyot Tribe Has Come Home For the first time in U.S. history, a local municipality has returned stolen Native land without an accompanying sale or lawsuit. By Adina Solomon N 1860, a massacre left the Wiyot Tribe at the brink of extinction Iand triggered the theft of their ancestral land. After years of local activism, Eureka, California’s city council voted to return a historic 202 acres of Tuluwat Island to the federally recognized tribe in October. It marks the first time a U.S. munic- ipality has transferred a Native land parcel of that size without an accompanying sale, lawsuit, or court order. Tuluwat, the largest island in Hum- The land—renamed “Indian “This gave the community boldt Bay off the coast of northern Island”—eventually entered the Members of an opportunity to change the California. The tribe had two hands of Eureka, California. In the the Wiyot Tribe (above) history into something different,” villages there, Etpidolh and Tulu- 1870s, a ship repair facility began celebrate says Wiyot tribal administrator wat, which was also the site of the operating there, leaving behind the return Michelle Vassel. “Now instead of annual World Renewal Ceremony, toxic materials. A retaining wall of the land in October. the island where the massacre a days-long event with important made of used boat batteries further Below: Wiyot’s happened, it’s the island where cultural and religious significance. contaminated the island. Invasive second World Renewal Wiyot people returned.” One morning during the 1860 plant species displaced native ones. Ceremony ceremony, white settlers killed The Wiyot people first asked since 1860 Working toward reclamation hundreds of sleeping Wiyot people, Eureka to return ownership of will be held this month on For thousands of years, the indig- bringing the tribe to the brink of Tuluwat Island in the 1970s, says Tuluwat Island. enous Wiyot people lived on extinction and seizing the island. tribal administrator Vassel. Nothing came of it, but conversations began again in 1992, when Native and non-Native people started holding annual THE CITY OF EUREKA COURTESY IMAGE, CKC ; TOP: vigils on neighboring Woodley Island to remember the lives lost CITYLAB in the massacre. “It was like a stain on the city that really nobody liked to look at,” says Vassel. “And this vigil really opened up people to be able to come out and share that they were unhappy with HOLDER/ SARAH LEFT: 10 Planning March 2020 COPYRIGHT 2020 BY THE AMERICAN PLANNING ASSOCIATION. REPRINTED BY PERMISSION OF PLANNING MAGAZINE. what had happened and say, ‘Hey, runup to the land transfer. To obtain how can I lend a hand?’” a clear title, Eureka provided a let- The activism increased under- ter from the California State Lands standing of the island’s importance Commission to the title company. to the Wiyot and the need for its Finally, in 2018, the city council reclamation, which resulted in voted to declare Tuluwat a “surplus some small wins. In 2000, the tribe property,” a legal step required to bought 1.5 acres; in 2004, the city transfer the land. And last October, handed over 40. The Wiyot spent the land was officially returned to more than a decade cleaning up the the Wiyot without restrictions in environmental contamination. an emotional ceremony at a Eureka But the city still owned most of community center. the island. So in 2015, a delegation “The council just really viewed led by tribal chairman Ted Hernan- that this would be the right thing dez again asked Eureka’s city council to do, and that it would help just to return the remaining acreage. create stronger bonds with the This time, the city Wiyot community, as agreed. And so began well as probably other a flurry of planning. The land’s Native American com- return marks munities in the area,” Starting the says Greg Sparks, for- an important healing process mer city manager for In the follow- step in the Eureka. Others facing ing years, Eureka community similar situations— appraised the land, healing including another which was zoned as process. California tribe and WONDER natural resources, at Austin, Texas—have $1,000 an acre. Regu- since reached out for lar meetings were conducted with details on the transfer. the tribe. The land’s return marked an Because there was no charge important step in the community for the property and the city took healing process, Hernandez says. on the expense of appraising the Now that the tribe controls the island, the Wiyot agreed to finan- island, their first tasks are further cially cover assessments under the clean up and removing invasive California Environmental Quality species. New dance houses and an Act, which requires government information center are also on the agencies to identify and mitigate to-do list. environmental impacts of any And this month, the tribe will project. Ultimately, the assessment be holding the World Renewal found that the transfer would not Ceremony on the island. It will be have a significant impact on the the first since 2014, when the tribe environment. completed the ceremony inter- ; TOP: CKC IMAGE, COURTESY THE CITY OF EUREKA COURTESY IMAGE, CKC ; TOP: Then there was the question of rupted by the 1860 massacre. ownership. The island was never “The world can become com- legally transferred to the state or plete and whole and heal,” says CITYLAB city, Vassel says. In 1860, days Hernandez. before the massacre, settler Robert Gunther had purchased the land Solomon is a freelance journalist based in from California and it eventually Atlanta. She specializes in urban planning and design and how it affects people, with ended up in the hands of Eureka. bylines appearing in the Washington Post, LEFT: SARAH HOLDER/ SARAH LEFT: This created title issues in the Next City, and CityLab. COPYRIGHT 2020 BY THE AMERICAN PLANNING ASSOCIATION. REPRINTED BY PERMISSION OF PLANNING MAGAZINE..