Tuluwat (Duluwat) Island returned to the Wiyot Tribe

What happened

On October 21, 2019, the Eureka City Council voted unanimously to return roughly 200 acres of Duluwat (Tuluwat) Island, the largest island in Humboldt Bay, to the Wiyot Tribe. The North Coast Journal reported that about 90 minutes after the vote, Eureka Mayor Susan Seaman and Wiyot Tribal Chair Ted Hernandez signed a deed of trust formally transferring ownership.

The Journal says the transfer came without condition, and that experts it consulted knew of no earlier case of a city returning hundreds of acres to a local tribe without a sale or lawsuit settlement. It is the culmination of earlier steps. In 2000 the Tribe raised more than $100,000 through fundraising events to buy 1.5 acres of the island from the city, a parcel that included the village site of Tuluwat. Four years later the city gave the Tribe another 40 acres. In 2018 the council declared the remaining island surplus property and directed the city manager to negotiate its return; the Journal says the year-long delay involved the State Lands Commission and the title company.

Wiyot Tribal Chair Ted Hernandez, quoted by the Journal, said the day was historic but "not an ending but a continuation," adding "We don't stop here. We move forward." The Journal gives the remaining acreage as both "200 acres" and "roughly 202 acres" in different passages.

Good to know. The deed transferred about 200 acres ("roughly 202" in one passage).

Summarized with AI assistance from 4 sources and checked against their words; not yet reviewed by historians or by the nations. Report an error