The following is a press release issued by the Bureau of Land Management:
Today, the Bureau of Land Management, the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation and the Kletsel Dehe Wintun Nation signed a co-stewardship agreement to strengthen cooperation in managing Molok Luyuk – roughly 20,000 acres of Wintun Nation ancestral lands located in Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument.
This co-stewardship agreement stems from the amended 2022 Secretary’s Order issued and signed by the Secretary of the Interior, the Secretary of Agriculture, and the Secretary of Commerce that directs the departments and their component bureaus and offices to manage federal lands in a manner that protects the treaty, religious, subsistence, and cultural interests of federally recognized Indian Tribes.
In May, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland and the BLM celebrated President Biden’s expansion of Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument as part of the Administration’s unprecedented commitment to protect America’s natural wonders for future generations, honor areas of cultural significance to Tribal Nations and Indigenous peoples, and expand access to nature. The new designation protects a striking 11-mile-long north-south ridgeline that is sacred to the Patwin people and hosts a mosaic of rare natural features supported by the area’s unique geologic and hydrologic features. The Presidential Proclamation also renames the ridgeline to Molok Luyuk, which means Condor Ridge in the language of the Patwin people.
“Molok Luyuk has been stewarded for thousands of years by the Wintun Nations,” said BLM Director Tracy Stone-Manning. “This co-stewardship agreement will strengthen management of this portion of Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument for generations to come, enhancing our ability to protect natural and cultural resources and to educate visitors to the monument.”
This agreement strengthens stewardship of Molok Luyuk through increased natural and cultural resource program coordination and inter-governmental engagement in management planning processes. It provides a framework for Tribal officials, planners, resource specialists, and Tribal members to share additional knowledge and expertise, and provide resources and services to the BLM to collaboratively develop resource management programs and coordinate on land use planning and management of resources.
