Land return
Blue Creek Salmon Sanctuary and Yurok Tribal Community Forest
Not yet reviewed by this nation. What follows comes from public records and research. It does not speak for the nation.
After 23 years, Western Rivers Conservancy finished conveying 47,097 acres on California's lower Klamath River to the Yurok Tribe on May 30, 2025.
- Nation
- Yurok
- Where
- Lower Klamath River, Del Norte and Humboldt counties, California
- Acres
- 47,097
- Began
- 2002
- Status
- Returned
Where the land is
The map marks only the general area, so this page does not say which recorded cession the land falls in.
Location from nativenewsonline.net.
What happened
The Yurok Tribe, California's largest federally recognized tribal nation, now owns 47,097 acres on the eastern side of the lower Klamath River in Northern California. Native News Online reported the land deal, announced by the Tribe, Western Rivers Conservancy (WRC) and two California state agencies, in June 2025. The land is now managed as the Blue Creek Salmon Sanctuary and Yurok Tribal Community Forest.
WRC acquired or facilitated the transfer of the lands from Green Diamond Resource Company in several phases between 2009 and 2017, then conveyed them to the Tribe in stages. The final phase, 14,968 acres, officially transferred on May 30, 2025. Native News Online reports a total cost of $56 million, of which just $8 million came from direct public grants. The rest came from private foundations, corporate and individual giving, carbon credit sales and a federal tax credit program.
Tribal Chairman Joseph L. James said the partnership of more than two decades forges a sustainable future for the fish, forests and people that honors both ecological integrity and cultural heritage. The release describes the lands as important habitat for salmon and a cold-water refuge, and says carbon credit revenue will support the project over the long term.
High Country News calls it the largest tribal land return in California history and says it more than doubles the Tribe's landholdings.
Good to know. Totals are rounded differently: 47,097 acres with a final phase of 14,968 acres (Tribe and conservancy), or 47,100 and 14,000 acres (High Country News).
Summarized with AI assistance from 4 sources and checked against their words; not yet reviewed by historians or by the nations. Report an error
What the sources say, and how this was checked
Well supported by the sources below.
The final phase—14,968 acres—officially transferred to the Yurok Tribe on May 30, 2025.
Land Back: 47,097 Acres Returned to Yurok Tribe (Native News Online, June 5, 2025)Just $8 million came from direct public grants
Land Back: 47,097 Acres Returned to Yurok Tribe (Native News Online, June 5, 2025)we are forging a sustainable future for the fish, forests and our people that honors both ecological integrity and our cultural heritage
Land Back: 47,097 Acres Returned to Yurok Tribe (Native News Online, June 5, 2025)The return more than doubles current landholdings for the tribe
LandBack advances across the West (High Country News, Feb. 2026)
Research notes. Rounding differs: High Country News gives 47,100 acres and says 14,000 acres in the final phase; the Tribe/WRC release says 47,097 and 14,968. Native News Online reprints the Tribe's and WRC's announcement; the primary release itself was not opened. The "start year" of 2002 in the atlas is inferred from the "23-year effort" and is not stated as a year in the sources read. Blue Creek is described by the release as a place of deep spiritual importance to the Tribe; no further location is given here.
Who is doing the work
Working with these nations
- Yurok Tribe Nation government Blue Creek Salmon Sanctuary and Yurok Tribal Community Forest (47,097 acres) Website
- Cultural Fire Management Council (CFMC) Native-led Cultural burning on the Yurok Reservation and ancestral lands Give on their site Website
- Save the Redwoods League Allied land trust Transferred 125 acres ('O Rew Redwoods Gateway) to the Yurok Tribe (announced July 28, 2026 per yuroktribe.org)
- Western Rivers Conservancy Allied land trust Buys river land and transfers to tribes (Blue Creek 47,097 acres to Yurok; Adler Ranch 1,199 acres to Esselen) Give on their site Website
Land return and Native-led work nearby
- InterTribal Sinkyone Wilderness Council Nation government Land conservation and return of coastal Sinkyone lands to tribal stewardship (nearly 5,000 acres protected) Give on their site Website
- Koy'o Land Conservancy (Colfax-Todds Valley Consolidated Tribe) Nation government Restoring traditional homelands to tribal members Website
- Kumeyaay Diegueno Land Conservancy (KDLC) Nation government Acquiring and preserving sacred and culturally sensitive lands in Kumeyaay aboriginal territory Give on their site Website
- Mechoopda Indian Tribe of Chico Rancheria Nation government 450 acres (2026), first ancestral land return in the Big Chico Creek watershed
Native legal and land defense, nationally
- Native American Rights Fund (NARF) Native-led Litigation and legal advocacy for tribal sovereignty, treaty rights, land and resources Give on their site Website
- NDN Collective (LANDBACK Campaign) Native-led LANDBACK campaign (launched 2020; Mount Rushmore closure and return of Black Hills public lands), Indigenous… Give on their site Website
- Indian Land Tenure Foundation (ILTF) Native-led Land recovery and control by tribes and individual Indian landowners Website
- Decolonizing Wealth Project (Indigenous Earth Fund; California Tribal Land Return) Native-led Reparative philanthropy Give on their site Website
Gifts go straight to each organization; this atlas takes nothing. Listing is not endorsement: how organizations are listed.
Connections
Links marked “suggested” were matched automatically by name or date and have not yet been reviewed by a person.
Nations named 1
- Yurok Tribesuggested
Located in 1
- Californiasuggested
Policy era 1
Supported by 1
Sources
- Kind
- Land return
- Confidence
- High
- Nation review
- Not yet reviewed by this nation