BLM Signs Partnership Agreement with Amah Mutsun Land Trust
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On Thursday, May 26, 2 p.m. the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Central Coast Field Office and the Amah Mutsun Land Trust will enter into a partnership agreement Memorandum of Understanding for the Coast Dairies Management Area on the north coast of Santa Cruz County. At a "terrace with a view" by Warrenella Road. BLM staff will meet attendees at the Warrenella Road gate, located approximately one mile north of the town of Davenport on State Route 1.
The Amah Mutsun Tribal Band is non-federally recognized Native American California Indian Tribe and are the descendants of the indigenous peoples from Año Nuevo to the north, the west slope of the Santa Cruz Mountains to the Pacific Ocean and Monterey Bay, south to the Salinas River and inland to the Pajaro and San Benito River watershed.
In 2012, the AMTB established the Amah Mutsun Land Trust, which is fostered with organizational support from Sempervirens Fund and financial assistance from the Christensen Fund and the Kalliopeia Foundation.
The new Memorandum of Understanding between the BLM Central Coast Field Office and the Amah Mutsun Land Trust will: (1) provide tribal members access to Coast Dairies to foster traditional practices, research, and educational opportunities including efforts to regain traditional tribal knowledge; (2) permit the collection of plant materials on Coast Dairies (traditional ethnobiological resources, collections for scientific research and education/interpretation); and (3) facilitate collaboration between BLM and AMLT that will help guide management planning at Coast Dairies.
The BLM works in collaboration with tribes, tribal communities, tribal organizations, and traditional practitioners to identify, inventory, monitor, and when needed, restore and enhance traditionally important biological resources. Native American traditional practitioners affiliated with over 200 federally and non-federally recognized tribes rely on public lands managed by the BLM to help sustain their traditions and meet their cultural needs. The BLM realizes that traditional native gathering and management practices on these lands are sustainable, benefit the health of the land, and are part of BLM's multiple use mandates. The new Memorandum of Understanding between the BLM and the AMLT will forge a BLM-tribal partnership to incorporate tribal traditional resource and environmental management practices to restore, enhance and promote ecosystem health for present and future generations.
For more information, contact Rick Cooper, Central Coast field manager, (831) 522-2200.
The BLM manages more than 245 million acres of public land located primarily in 12 western states, including Alaska, on behalf of the American people. The BLM also administers 700 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate throughout the nation. Our mission is to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of America’s public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations.