"With the beginning of 2013, I thought it a good time to reflect on our tribal concern for the environment and some of the programs and policies we have in place to make the valley a greener place to live.

Our tribal government — as our ancestors before us did for thousands of years — knows the importance of caring for the land for those of us living today and for those to come in the future. Our tribe was the original steward of the land in the county known as the birthplace of the modern environmental movement.

The vast territory that our tribe traditionally lived, traversed and hunted on since time immemorial was taken away. Our Chumash Reservation in the valley is just 138 acres, mainly the creek bed and the surrounding bank areas where our ancestors found refuge in the 1800s after Mexico secularized the mission. Part of our reservation was “lost” to an easement for state Highway 246."

Get the Story:
Richard Gomez: Care for land a long tradition (The Solvang Valley News 1/17)