For a second time, the nonprofit Save the Redwoods League has orchestrated a donation of coastal redwood forestland to the InterTribal Sinkyone Wilderness Council to permanently protect trees on the Lost Coast in Mendocino County, California.

The League purchased the 523-acre property, formerly known as Andersonia West, in 2020. To ensure its lasting protection, the conservation group transferred ownership to the Sinkyone Council, which then granted the League a conservation easement.

Through the partnership, the Sinkyone people resume guardianship of a land they lived on generations ago, before European settlers moved in—and the forest will again be known as Tc'ih-Léh-Dûñ (pronounced tsih-ih-LEY-duhn), meaning "Fish Run Place"

"Renaming the property Tc'ih-Léh-Dûñ lets people know that it's a sacred place," said Crista Ray, a tribal citizen of Pomo Indians and a board member of the Sinkyone Council.

"Today I stand on the shoulders of giants, my ancestors … to bring them honor, and to not let our old ways be forgotten, for our next generation," said Buffie Schmidt, a tribal citizen and board treasurer of the Sinkyone Council. "Our ancestors are still here, they're still around us. As I listen to the wind, I feel like my ancestors."

"The Sinkyone Council today represents the Indigenous Peoples who are the original stewards of this land. Their connection to the redwood forest is longstanding, and it is deep," said Sam Hodder, president and CEO of Save the Redwoods League. "The League is honored to support a return of Native people to this place and to partner with the Sinkyone Council in their management and stewardship of Tc'ih-Léh-Dûñ. We believe the best way to permanently protect and heal this land is through tribal stewardship. In this process, we have an opportunity to accelerate the pace and scale of conserving California's iconic redwood forests."

Tc'ih-Léh-Dûñ is a coastal conifer forest with 200 acres of old-growth coastal redwoods and 1.5 miles of waterfront wilderness on Anderson Creek—a Class I fish-bearing stream and tributary to the South Fork Eel River.

Second-growth redwoods, Douglas-firs, tanoaks and madrones tower over a lush understory of huckleberries, elderberries, manzanitas and ceanothuses. This habitat corridor supports coho salmon, steelhead trout, marbled murrelet and northern spotted owl—all species listed under the US Endangered Species Act.

Tc'ih-Léh-Dûñ is the League‘s second land donation to the Sinkyone Council. The first, in 2012, was the 164-acre Four Corners property north of Tc'ih-Léh-Dûñ, the first project for which Save the Redwoods entered into a conservation agreement with a tribal entity.

Both organizations are committed to the prevention of habitat loss, commercial timber operations, construction and development.

As a Tribal Protected Area, Tc'ih-Léh-Dûñ is a vital addition to 180,000 acres of adjacent conserved lands east of the 7,250-acre Sinkyone Wilderness State Park.

The League's initial purchase of this 523-acre forest for $3.55 million in 2020 was fully funded by Pacific Gas & Electric Company's (PG&E) Compensatory Mitigation Program (program), which develops projects related to PG&E's 30-year conservation goals that were developed with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

PG&E also reimbursed the League and Council for transactional costs and management plan preparation, in addition to a $1.13 million endowment to support ongoing stewardship of Tc'ih-Léh-Dûñ.

"This is a great collaborative effort that demonstrates our environmental stewardship commitment to protect these valuable resources and the communities we serve," said Mariano Mandler, senior director of environmental management for PG&E.

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