Grant from the SNC supports Kootzaduka’a Tribe’s purchase of 160 acres of private land near Mono Lake – its first land acquisition
It has been roughly two centuries since the Kootzaduka’a Tribe was pushed off its territorial homeland, but with the help of a grant from the Sierra Nevada Conservancy (SNC) that all changed this summer as the tribe can now call a scenic 160 acres near Mono Lake home again.
“We have been patient for almost 200 years. We haven’t given up,” said Dean Tonenna, Mono Lake Kootzaduka’a tribal elder. “This is a real boost in our sense of accomplishments and what we can do on the ground.”
Surrounded by the Inyo National Forest, the land – known as Tupe Nobe, which translates to “Rock House” – is located in the foothills above Mono Lake. Before European settlement began in earnest in the 1860s, the Kootzaduka’a people lived and thrived throughout the Mono Basin. As more settlers moved in, the tribe was slowly pushed off the land. As Tonenna put it, they were driven to be “squatters in their own homeland.”
The purchase of Tupe Nobe is one step in reversing that tribal land and water loss.
“My grandfather always told us you need to buy the land back, it’s the only way you’re going to get it back,” said Kootzaduka’a Tribal Chair Charlotte Lange. “So, in his honor and all my elders, that’s what we started doing – bringing this land back to our people.”
With the help of a partnership with the Eastern Sierra Land Trust (ESLT) and funding through the SNC, the tribe was able to purchase the land from a private owner. By helping to appraise the property and complete an environmental assessment, among other tasks, the ESLT was able to help ensure a legal and fair tribal land return.
“When I called Chairwoman Charlotte Lange to share the wonderful news that the Sierra Nevada Conservancy had approved our grant proposal for the Tupe Nobe project, we both shed tears of gratitude and amazement,” said Kay Ogden, former executive director of the ESLT. “This ancestral land return marks a pivotal moment for the Mono Lake Kootzaduka’a Tribe.”
The property comes with a few outbuildings and rustic, small cabins, and the tribe plans to use the land and amenities to educate underserved young adults and others on tribal heritage and traditional ecological knowledge that will help steward the land for generations to come. The tribe also plans to invite neighboring communities and visitors to experience Tupe Nobe through tribally interpretated educational camps and retreats.
While getting the land back is a life-changing event for the tribe, it is not stopping there. It hopes to continue its pursuit of returning more tribal members to the area through additional land acquisitions and continuing to restore cultural practices and traditions.
Helping with that would be finally receiving federal recognition by the U.S. government, something the small tribe has been seeking and requesting for some time.
“In the past, we had a linear thought process that we’d get federally recognized first then get a reservation. Once we get a reservation then we can get housing and land and a place to steward and conserve our heritage,” Tonenna said. “But in the last five years we have realized that way of thinking is not in our best interest because any one of those may not happen. So, we changed our focus, and we are no longer waiting, we are actively pursuing them all – we are pursuing federal recognition, looking for land for housing, and looking for land for conservation.”
While the tribe pushes for federal recognition, the Kootzaduka’a will rejoice in knowing that with the recent purchase of the “Rock House” its people have officially returned to its territorial homeland.
“We just need to never give up, keep focusing on the future, building our tribe, and bringing our people back home,” added Tonenna.