Land return
Sogorea Te' Land Trust land returns and Shuumi Land Tax
Not yet reviewed by this nation. What follows comes from public records and research. It does not speak for the nation.
Sogorea Te' Land Trust says it has rematriated several small East Bay sites and is funded partly by a voluntary Shuumi Land Tax.
- Nation
- Lisjan Ohlone
- Where
- East Bay, California
- Began
- 2012
- Status
- Ongoing program
Where the land is
This land is inside Land of the Chap-pah-sim, Co-to-plan-e-nee and others in California, ceded 1851 (area 281), which the United States treated as ceded under California Treaty E: Dent's and Vantine's Crossings (Stanislaus River), 1851 (unratified), a treaty the Senate never ratified.
Location from sogoreate-landtrust.org.
What happened
Sogorea Te' Land Trust works in the East Bay of California, which it describes as traditional Lisjan Ohlone land. Its website says the Land Trust cultivates what it calls rematriation, defined as restoring a people to their rightful place in sacred relationship with their ancestral land, and that its work is made possible by the leadership of Indigenous women and culture keepers.
The Land Trust's page on rematriation lists the sites it has worked on. It says Lisjan, in East Oakland, is a traditional village site and the first piece of land rematriated by Sogorea Te' within Lisjan territory. It says 'Ookwe Park is the first park returned to the care of the Confederated Villages of Lisjan and Sogorea Te' Land Trust, Rammay is a small garden in West Oakland, and Rinihmu Pulte'irekne is 3.8 acres of land in the Oakland hills. Ištune is a house it bought in August 2020, with 14 days to raise $750,000. The page does not give acreage for most sites, or a total.
The Land Trust funds its work in part through the Shuumi Land Tax, a voluntary annual contribution that non-Indigenous people living on Lisjan Ohlone territory make. Shuumi means gift in Chochenyo. The Land Trust states that the Ohlone community in the East Bay has no land base and is not federally recognized.
It says that with community support it built the first ceremonial arbor in Lisjan territory in more than 250 years and rematriated multiple sites, including one house, to Indigenous stewardship.
Good to know. All statements are the Land Trust's own. The Shuumi Land Tax is a voluntary payment, not a government tax, and no total acreage is published.
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
Supported by the sources below; some details rest on one source.
Rinihmu Pulte’irekne is 3.8 acres of land in the Oakland hills
What is Rematriation? (Sogorea Te' Land Trust)Lisjan is a traditional village site and the first piece of land rematriated by Sogorea Te’ within the territory of
What is Rematriation? (Sogorea Te' Land Trust)Today, the Ohlone community in the East Bay has no land base.
Shuumi Land Tax (Sogorea Te' Land Trust)The Shuumi Land Tax is a voluntary annual contribution that non-Indigenous people make to support the vital work of the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust.
Sogorea Te' Land Trust (home page)
Research notes. All statements are the Land Trust's own, with no independent source opened. No total acreage is published on the pages read, and the start year (about 2012 in the atlas, from memory) was not found there. Site names are listed as the Land Trust gives them; sites with burial or sacred significance are not described here. The Land Trust's language about genocide and theft is its own and is not adopted.
Who is doing the work
Working with these nations
- Sogorea Te' Land Trust Native-led Return of land to Indigenous people 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
Located in 1
- Californiasuggested
Policy era 1
Supported by 1
Sources
- sogoreate-landtrust.org/about/self-description
- Kind
- Land return
- Confidence
- Medium
- Nation review
- Not yet reviewed by this nation
- Notes
- Some details not yet checked against a source