Forest Management Company Returns 50,000 Acres to Yurok Tribe

by Marissa Papanek / KRCR News

Photo courtesy of Yurok Tribe.

KLAMATH, Calif. — Green Diamond and Western Rivers Conservancy have agreed to return tens of thousands of acres of ancestral lands to the Yurok Tribe.

On Monday, Aug. 19, the Yurok Tribe, Green Diamond Resource Company and Western Rivers Conservancy will celebrate a decade-long, hard-won effort to preserve and place into tribal ownership approximately 50,000 acres of forest surrounding four salmon sustaining streams, including Blue Creek, according to tribal leaders.

“It is a good day for the Yurok people,” Joseph L. James, the Chairman of the Yurok Tribe said. “On behalf of the Yurok Tribe, I would like thank Green Diamond and Western Rivers for assisting us in the reacquisition of a significant part of our ancestral territory and putting us in a position to permanently protect the Blue Creek watershed, which is the crown jewel of the Klamath River. These organizations have stood by us every step of the way during this 10-year project.”