3,331 acres of ancestral land are coming home to California tribes, with $3.95 million to care for them

Four tribal-led projects across San Diego, Mendocino, and Shasta counties will return about 3,331 acres to tribal ownership and stewardship, backed by over $3.95 million from California's Tribal Nature-Based Solutions Program. The money supports what tribes themselves have chosen for their ancestral lands: bringing cultural fire back to the landscape, restoring habitat, and protecting species that matter deeply to their communities. The program grew out of direct consultation with California Native American tribes, and it is the first in the state designed specifically to fund projects tribes identify and lead. As one state tribal-affairs leader put it, the work is about returning land to the hands of the people who have cared for these places since time immemorial.

SDG 15 · Life on land — Mechanism: funding & finance