Wailaki Descendants to Speak During Public Comment Period at Great Redwood Trail Meeting in Ukiah January 25

[Photo: Alicia Hamann via the Coastal Conservancy]

A group of Wailaki Descendants and their allies, calling themselves the Kinest’e Community Coalition, are planning to address the Great Redwood Trail Agency during public comment at the GRTA Board meeting in Ukiah on January 25th. The meeting will take place at the Ukiah City Council Chambers at 300 Seminary Avenue from 10:30am-12pm.

On January 8, the group’s attorney Shannon Wilhite wrote a letter requesting the Wailakis be added to the GRTA’s January agenda to discuss Native concerns about the proposed route of the trail, which winds through the heart of the ancestral territory of several local tribes in the Eel River Canyon. The GRTA denied this request, despite the Agency’s repeated assertions that they are taking input from local tribes. Attorney Wilhite spoke with GRT General Manager Elaine Hogan, who “indicated that anything other than participating in the general public comment period would not be available to us.”

The ambitious “rails to trails” project involves the defunct Northcoast Railroad, which was built in 1914 through an area that had been densely populated by Native communities until settlers perpetrated ethnic cleansing of their villages. Wailaki, Yuki and other tribal Descendants trace their ancestry to specific sites within the GRT’s planned route through the canyon, and they assert that the GRT puts their heritage and culture at risk. In addition to untold historic and sacred sites along the river, the land has diverse uses and cultural meaning for tribal members still living there today. They want to be included and at the table during all phases of planning for the GRT, not just asked to weigh in on a lengthy document after the fact.

“The first people of this area are respectfully requesting that they be treated as the original peoples of the land and to give them the respect due,” wrote Attorney Wilhite in the letter. “It is concerning that the GRTA is not actively engaging with these individuals and ensuring the cultural sites will be protected and preserved in a way that honors these people whose land the Trail is on.”

A number of state and federal laws are in place to protect Native cultural resources, archaeological sites, and even elements of the natural landscape that have cultural significance. As a state agency, the GRTA must be in compliance with CEQA, the 1906 Antiquities Act, National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, National Trails System Act, Native American Graves