The Times-Standard, March 26, 2011
The Yurok Tribe will hold a
community meeting in Bayside on Sunday to share its
legislative plan for a potential land transfer with
the public.
The tribe is currently only
working on draft legislation that would transfer
federal lands at the mouth of the Klamath River and
near the town of Klamath to the tribe. The proposed
transfer of Redwood National Park and Six Rivers
National Forest lands was first publicized in 2004,
when the Yurok and Hoopa Valley tribes signed a plan
amending the 1988 Hoopa-Yurok Settlement Act. The
plan outlined a strategy to allow the Yurok Tribe to
buy or acquire through transfer of lands some
238,000 acres and redraw Yurok Reservation
boundaries.
The draft legislation the tribe
intends to discuss Sunday includes the transfer of
1,200 acres of parkland containing Yurok ceremonial
sites at the mouth of the Klamath River and another
1,200 acres of U.S. Forest Service land adjacent to
U.S. Highway 101 known as the Yurok Experimental
Forest.
According to a press release, the
tribe also wants to include Redding Rock, a
culturally significant sea stack off Freshwater
Lagoon, currently under the control of the Bureau of
Land Management, in the draft legislation.
The tribe is planning to hold a
series of meetings on the subject at various
locations on the North Coast.
Sunday's meeting will be held at
the Humboldt Area Foundation, 373 Indianola Road,
from 2 to 5 p.m.
If You Go:
What: Community meeting on Yurok
draft legislation
When: 2 to 5 p.m. Sunday
Where: Humboldt Area Foundation,
373 Indianola Road in Bayside
