Fall 2021 Newsletter

Letter from Chairman Lopez

Dear Friends,

Our AMLT had a very busy summer. Our Stewards worked at Mt. Umunhum, Soquel Demonstration State Forest, Quiroste Valley and the AMLT greenhouse at Cascade Ranch. Our Tribe is very proud of our Stewards. They recognize how important they are to the future of both our Tribe and our Land Trust. It is their responsibility to learn the knowledge of our ancestors regarding traditional land stewardship and cultural resource management so they can carry that knowledge forward for future generations. For example, the Native Stewards are learning about traditional uses of native plants. This includes knowledge of over 63 food plants, 98 medicine plants, plants for basketry, for women and children’s health, for cordage, dyes and so much more. Our Native Stewards have a very important job and it is our responsibility to help and support them every step of the way.

One thing we are looking forward to is growing our cultural burn program. In the next few months we plan to release a job announcement for a cultural burn program director to manage and develop this new program. 

Recently The Nature Conservancy’s Director of the Indigenous Peoples Burning Network and Fire Science, Mary Huffman, visited our Land Trust. With Mary was Margo Robbins, a co-director of the Indigenous Peoples Burning Network and also Executive Director of the Cultural Fire Management Council. Together we visited both Quiroste Valley and our greenhouse at Cascade ranch. We had a good discussion with the Native Stewards, who were in the field that day conducting fuel reduction work. We talked about AMLT’s plan to restore cultural burning to both the Santa Cruz mountains and throughout Amah Mutsun territory, and about our research program regarding pre- and post-fire monitoring, plus the challenges of conducting burns due to air quality, weather, high costs of insurance, and public perception. We also talked about our Land Trust’s goal of restoring native plants to the landscapes following a burn. We expect this will take several generations to accomplish in full, but we know we must be patient and work hard every day to heal Mother Earth. Restoring our cultural fire practices is an important step towards healing and restoring balance.

Our Tribe continues to fight hard to protect the cultural and sacred sites of our ancestors. Our Tribe knows that if we are to find balance in our lives we must work hard to return to the path of our ancestors. In the last newsletter I talked about the threat at Juristac, see: www.protectjuristac.org. In the last couple of months additional challenges have occurred. First, Juristac was much larger than the 6,400 acres that comprised Sargent Ranch; it included territory to the south and west. The first freeway exit just past current day Sargent Ranch is Betabel Road. Betabel is a part of the ceremony location of Juristac. Today a developer has begun construction to build a commercial node on the property. His first project is to develop a “seasonal fruit stand.” This fruit stand can only operate seasonally and can only sell produce that is grown on the property. A seasonal fruit stand does not require a State of California Environmental Quality Act review or a cultural resources review. The developer, with San Benito County’s acceptance, is going far beyond what can be considered a fruit stand. Our attorney firm has sent the County a letter to ask them to stop construction until we can meet with them to better understand the project and to share our concerns. The County denied our request to stop the project, yet, we will continue to challenge this project and to protect our Tribe’s sacred site where our ancestors held ceremonies for thousands of years. This summer we have also had to work on conservation and protection issues related to the proposed construction of the Pacheco Dam and the High Speed Rail. I’ll talk about these challenges in a future newsletter.

Finally, on Thursday, September 23rd, the Conservations Lands Foundation and the UC Berkeley Institute for Parks, People and Biodiversity will sponsor an event in celebration of the 75th Anniversary of the Bureau of Land Management (more information here). Interior Secretary Haaland, the first Native American Secretary of the Department, will provide the opening remarks. Following this there will be a panel discussion titled: Recognizing and Honoring Tribal Leadership in Public Land Management. I’m honored to be part of this panel and look forward to presenting with other indigenous leaders.

sareemi (prayers),

Valentin Lopez

Chair, Amah Mutsun Tribal Band

President, Amah Mutsun Land Trust