California town gives land to local tribe

Indian Island off the coast of Northern California was the site of a massacre, a place that was contaminated by a shipyard and flush with invasive species.

It’s also the spiritual and physical center of the universe for the small Wiyot Tribe, and it now belongs to them almost entirely after a city deeded all the land it owns on the island to the tribe during a packed signing ceremony Monday.

“It’s a really good example of resilience because Wiyot people never gave up the dream,” tribal administrator Michelle Vassel said. “It’s a really good story about healing and about coming together of community.”

The tribe was decimated in 1860, when scores of elders, women and children were wiped out during a raid by settlers while the tribe’s men were away gathering supplies. Since then, the now 600-member tribe has been making small strides toward regaining the land it lost.

The tribe sold art and fry bread and took in donations to buy 1.5 acres on the eastern tip of the island for $106,000 in 2000. Years later, the city of Eureka gave the tribe more land.

During the signing celebrated with a prayer, a traditional Native American dance and cheers from a crowd, city officials turned over over the deed to the largest chunk of land — more than 200 acres in what was once the historic village of Etpidolh. No money was exchanged.

Tribes have lost millions of acres of land through treaties broken by the U.S. government, by force and in exchange for federal services such as health care and education. Rarely has it been restored, said Cris Stainbrook, president of the Indian Land Tenure Foundation.

Most tribes resort to buying land as it comes up for sale.

In California, a former Wiyot councilman unsuccessfully petitioned Eureka for part of Indian Island in the 1970s. The tribe started fundraising in 1998, watching for any properties that came up for sale.

The Wiyot knew the parcel it bought in 2000 had extensive contamination from a former shipyard that was established on the island shortly after the massacre, along with livestock grazing. That didn’t matter. People in the community asked what they could do to help.

The tribe and community members came together to remove boat batteries, lead paint, chemicals, scrap metal, rusty buckets, a huge engine and contaminated soil. A 1,000-year-old clamshell mound containing burial sites, tools and things left over from ceremonies was restored.