SACRAMENTO, CA – The Wildlife Conservation Board (WCB) recently approved 24 habitat protection and restoration projects across 25 counties. Among these was a $2.4 million grant to the Tule River Indian Tribe, in partnership with the California Natural Resources Agency, to return 14,675 acres of ancestral lands, restoring tribal sovereignty and conserving habitat in Tulare County. The Hershey Ranch project reconnects the tribe with their ancestral land, increasing connectivity between the San Joaquin Valley and Sierra Nevada Mountains, conserving grassland, blue oak woodlands and riparian habitat. This area also provides the opportunity for future stream restoration and managed public access.
“The Tule River Tribe expresses its gratitude to the Wildlife Conservation Board for aiding the tribe in its efforts to restore its ancestral homeland,” said Charmaine McDarment, Chairwoman of the Tule River Tribal Council. “As the climate crisis brings new pressures to address the effects of environmental mismanagement and resource degradation, the tribe’s partnership with WCB is an important example of building relationships based in collaboration and trust. The tribe remains committed to supporting co-stewardship efforts and fighting to ensure that disproportionate harms to Native American lands, culture, and resources are resolved in a manner that centers and honors Native American connections to ancestral lands.”