The Yurok Tribal Council authorized the distribution of $2 million in Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES) funding to help Yurok business owners and entrepreneurs that have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. “Tribal citizen-owned businesses are essential to the long-term prosperity of our community,” Joseph L. James, Chairman of the Yurok Tribe, […]
Yurok Tribe
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Yurok Tribe to Run Stone Lagoon Visitor Center in Historic Agreement
The Yurok Tribe announced today that the Stone Lagoon Visitor Center will officially be operated by the Tribe beginning June 1 under a first-of-its-kind agreement with the California Department of Parks and Recreation. Called Chah-pekw O’ Ket’oh in the Yurok language, Stone Lagoon plays a critical role in the Tribe’s traditional culture, according to a […]
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Mad River Brewing Co.’s New Native Swag
In October, when the Yurok Tribe bought the Mad River Brewing Co., it became one of only a handful of breweries owned and run by a Native American tribe. Now, with the unveiling of the brewery’s new logo, the statement of Native ownership is right on the label. According to a press release from Mad […]
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Yurok Tribe Castigates Del Norte Supervisor for Supporting Restaurant’s Opening in Violation of Tribal, State and County Health Orders
The owners of a tiny diner, the members of a remote California tribe, and the First District supervisor of Del Norte County clashed this weekend as tensions rise between those who fear economic collapse if their communities don’t reopen for business and those who fear death and illness if their communities do. On Saturday, the […]
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Local Tribes Notify Residents to Shelter in Place
Local tribes are also issuing shelter-in-place orders like those in effect in Humboldt County and across the state in response to the COVID-19 outbreak that has gripped the nation and the world. The Wiyot, Hoopa Valley and Yurok tribes notified members yesterday, asking those living within their respective tribal boundaries to limit time out in […]
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Yurok Tribe Celebrates Solar Power System
The Yurok Tribe is celebrating the installation of a solar power system and has announced that another is being planned in an effort to bring electricity to the roughly 40 percent of families in the Weitchpec and Pecwan areas who do not have access to the grid. According to a press release, the 28 kW […]
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Yurok Tribe to Buy Mad River Brewing
Hold onto your Steelhead. The Yurok Agricultural Corporation, which is owned by the Yurok Tribe, announced today it’s in the process of purchasing the 30-year-old Mad River Brewing and its taproom and restaurant. This will make the Yurok Tribe one of the few tribes in the U.S. to own and/or operate a brewing company, along […]
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Eureka, County Are Parties in Opioid Settlement Agreement
Eureka and Humboldt County are parties to the tentative multi-billion-dollar settlement reached this week in a landmark lawsuit brought by thousands of municipal governments and more than two dozen states against Purdue Pharma, the company that created OxyContin. The settlement — which still needs to be ratified by plaintiffs and approved by the judge — […]
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Yurok Tribe Awarded UN Honor for Forest Management Practices
The Yurok Tribe recently became the first indigenous community in the United States to be awarded the Equator Prize by the United Nations Development Programme, which honors “innovative nature-based solutions for tackling climate change, environment and poverty challenges.” “We are honored to receive recognition for our traditional ecological knowledge and western science-based approach to managing […]
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Huffman Announces Release of Nearly $30 Million in Fisheries Disaster Funding
More than a year after Congress appropriated the funds, members of the the North Coast’s commercial fishing industry and a local tribe are slated to receive federal disaster support in the coming months, Rep. Jared Huffman announced this morning. “Tribes, hardworking fishermen, their families, and coastal communities have been stuck in limbo for far too […]
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New Yorker Looks at Yurok Tribe’s Carbon-Offset Project
A story on the New Yorker website this week takes a look at the Yurok Tribe’s carbon-offset forest project, which was the first developed under California protocols for the state’s cap-and-trade system back in 2014. According to the story, the project is now the “tribe’s main source of discretionary income,” which has facilitated the purchase […]
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NYT Story Examines Heroin’s Impact on Local Tribes and its Link to an Ailing River
The New York Times this week explores the devastating impacts of the nation’s opioid crisis on Kaurk, Hoopa and Yurok tribal communities, placed in the context of their connection to the struggling health of the Klamath River — an integral link between the tribes as well as their past, present and future in the region. It’s […]