Tribal Engagement

Resolution No. 2025-09 – Environmental and Tribal Commitments

Adopted: September 18, 2025

In 2025, the GRTA Board adopted Resolution No. 2025-09, establishing the Agency’s core policy commitments on environmental stewardship and tribal partnership. The resolution directs staff to protect, preserve, and restore sensitive natural and cultural resources along the trail corridor; remove environmentally damaging railroad infrastructure; restore fish passage and ecologically important features; and build long-term relationships with tribes consistent with the goal of aligning preservation of tribal and cultural resources with implementation of the Great Redwood Trail.

The resolution also directs staff to proactively communicate with tribes, develop a Tribal Advisory Committee, explore contracting opportunities that draw on local tribal cultural knowledge, and develop a plan for inviting tribes to participate in the management of trail segments crossing ancestral lands.

Memorandum of Understanding with Blue Lake Rancheria

Approved by the Board: March 19, 2026

GRTA and Blue Lake Rancheria (BLR), a federally recognized tribal government in Humboldt County, entered into a Memorandum of Understanding establishing a government-to-government partnership in connection with the development and stewardship of the Great Redwood Trail within and adjacent to BLR’s ancestral territory.

Blue Lake Rancheria brings nationally recognized expertise in renewable energy and microgrid technology, sustainable forestry and portable sawmill operations, fish passage restoration, native plant propagation, traditional ecological knowledge, and tribal arts and cultural programming. The MOU provides a framework for direct collaboration and contracting in areas including ecological restoration, cultural resource monitoring, interpretive signage and tribal artwork, trail stewardship, off-grid energy solutions for backcountry trail infrastructure, and workforce and youth employment development for tribal members.

Memorandum of Understanding with the Hopland Band of Pomo Indians

Approved by the Board: March 19, 2026

GRTA and the Hopland Band of Pomo Indians (HBPI), a federally recognized tribal government whose ancestral people, the Shóqowa People (Hopland Pomo), have continuously stewarded the Sanel Valley and surrounding Mendocino County landscapes since time immemorial, entered into a Memorandum of Understanding establishing a government-to-government partnership focused on the trail corridor within HBPI’s ancestral territory in the Hopland area.

The MOU establishes a framework for collaboration in areas including cultural resource monitoring, vegetation management and culturally mindful land stewardship (including cultural burning and prescribed fire), protection of culturally significant plant species, stewardship and cultural programming at the Hopland train station, commissioned tribal art installations, construction and demolition services, and workforce development for tribal members. The agreement prioritizes HBPI’s ancestral sovereignty and commits GRTA to protecting sensitive cultural and natural resource information.

Cultural Monitoring Contract with the Wiyot Tribe

Executed: October 13, 2025

GRTA entered into a contract service agreement with the Wiyot Tribe to provide Tribal Cultural Monitoring services on GRTA-owned and managed land within Wiyot ancestral territory in Humboldt County. Under the agreement, the Wiyot Tribe’s Tribal Historic Preservation Officer (THPO) and designated cultural monitors oversee and inspect ground-disturbing activities for the presence of cultural resources and human remains, with clear protocols in place to halt work and appropriately respond to any discoveries. This agreement, effective October 2025 through October 2027 with renewal options, represents GRTA’s first formal contract for tribal cultural monitoring services and a significant step toward operationalizing the tribal partnership commitments made in Resolution 2025-09.