The following is a press release issued by California State Parks:
California State Parks and the Big Valley Band of Pomo Indians of the Big Valley Rancheria (Big Valley) celebrated the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for Clear Lake State Park (SP), a state park within the Tribe’s traditional territory, on Friday, June 21, 2024.
“Big Valley has inhabited these lands since time immemorial and Friday’s MOU is an important step in our government-to-government relationship with the State because it recognizes the Tribe’s deep and meaningful connection to this land managed by California State Parks,” said Chairman Flaman McCloud, Jr. “For centuries, our people have used this land for ceremonies, dances, medicine gathering, and recreation. To ensure current and future Tribal members have the opportunity to do the same at Clear Lake State Park is incredibly gratifying. We’re grateful for State Park’s awareness and recognition of the Tribe’s stewardship of this land.”
“As we work with the descendants of the first people of California, the Big Valley Band of Pomo Indians, we mark a new era of engagement,” said State Parks Director Armando Quintero. “Their culture, songs, knowledge, and the living people who are the Big Valley Pomo in partnership will provide an energized trajectory, long into the future that will continue rich traditions and the application of traditional knowledge for the future of Big Valley and its people.”
The MOU identifies mutually beneficial activities for State Parks and Big Valley to collaborate and cooperate on for the benefit of Clear Lake State Park. These activities include the incorporation of traditional ecological knowledge into natural resource management and to better preserve and protect the natural beauty and biodiversity of Clear Lake. Collaboration on interpretation is also a focus of the MOU, cooperating on bringing in Native American voices and stories into California State Parks, a focus of the State Parks Reexamining Our Past Initiative.
Big Valley and State Parks have a history of coordination on the Tule Boat Festival, an exciting annual summer event hosted by Big Valley that keeps traditional tule gathering and boat crafting alive and shares this knowledge with the public. This year’s 21st annual Tule Boat Festival will be held July 25-27 with the theme “Water is Life.”
The California State Parks Tribal MOU program seeks to facilitate collaboration with California Native American tribes by establishing protocols for continuous open discussions and outlining the responsibilities of each party to promote successful cooperation and partnership. This is the 12thMOU between State Parks and a California Native American tribe. The first one was signed on April 13, 2017. To learn more about the program, please visit parks.ca.gov/TribalMOUProgram.
Well that’s might white of them to ask native Americans for input on their land?
It’s never too late. This is a nice cooperation and long overdue. I look forward to attending the festival. I trully believe the thing that brings tourist and families isn’t drugs or casinos. It’s history and culture of how people lived and survived in nature. Most Native Americans will always be the gold standard of melding & synthesizing with the Earth.