We acknowledge that the lands we serve are the ancestral homelands of the Nisenan, whose land is unceded and who were nearly exterminated by colonization, and who share intersecting boundaries with the Konkow and Washoe. We support tribal priorities, including returning land to tribal families and communities, consistent with our mission to preserve the natural, scenic, and cultural resources of these lands.
In 2022, BYLT honored and renamed c’oom pe (pronounced CH-oom pe) Preserve, a Nisenan place name. The site, home to Mountain Bounty Farm, holds significant historical and cultural meaning for the Nisenan Tribe of the Nevada City Rancheria. Bear Yuba Land Trust contributes a portion of the farm lease to the Tribe’s Ancestral Homelands Reciprocity Program, a community generated initiative to support and uplift the Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribe, the original peoples of this land, through their tribally-guided 501(c)(3) nonprofit CHIRP (California Heritage: Indigenous Research Project).
