Yurok Tribe acquires 47,000 acres in California’s largest land-back deal

The Yurok Tribe has gained control and stewardship of 73 square miles of land along the Klamath River in a $56 million transfer — the largest land-back deal in California’s history.

The tribe announced on June 5 it had completed the final phase of the land-transfer partnership with Portland, Ore.-based nonprofit Western Rivers Conservancy, a process that began in 2022. With the land under their control, the Yurok have designated 15,000 acres of the 47,097-acre property as the Blue Creek Salmon Sanctuary and established the remainder as the Yurok Community Forest.

“The impact of this project is enormous,” Joseph L. James, chairman of the Yurok Tribe, said in a statement. “We are forging a sustainable future for the fish, forests and our people that honors both ecological integrity and our cultural heritage.”

The conservancy began purchasing the land in phases from Seattle-based forestry firm Green Diamond Resource Company in 2009, according to a WRC statement. The organization used a combination of loans, carbon credits from offsets secured by forest management, and private philanthropy. WRC also utilized the New Markets Tax Credit program, a federal program that provides returns on community development investments.

The nonprofit paid $56 million for the acreage, along with a final $3.3 million payment to the Yurok to support future stewardship efforts of the ancestral lands.