California has always been a unique and special place. The highest peak and lowest valley in the contiguous US contribute to California's unique geography, providing a variety of climates which have allowed plant and animal life to thrive. Rivers flowed with fresh water and fish and vast grasslands exploded with flowers, supporting thick clouds of migrating butterflies. On the coast, ecosystems abounded with life and shores were filled with the highest abalone diversity in the world. These rich resources supported diverse Indigenous People who have inhabited California for thousands of years through shifts in drought, fire and climate.
Over millennia of observation and practice, California’s Indigenous People learned to steward ecosystems to reciprocal benefit. Relationships to species like salmon ensure they move through the rivers and bring nutrients from the sea to forest ecosystems. Cultural burning of grasslands return nutrients to the soil and creates a fire break allowing plants and all who depend on them to thrive. Responsible harvest of abalone provides food and cultural resources while ensuring continued harvest not just for the next year, but for perpetuity. California was not a wilderness, but a cultivated cultural landscape, tended to by its Indigenous People.
Today’s California looks very different. In a few hundred years following colonization, the landscape has been remarkably transformed. Dams prevent salmon from migrating upstream and deprive regions of water. Bans on good fire created years of fuel and reduced natural fire breaks, creating harmful fire conditions which put ecosystems and communities at risk. Overexploitation and misuse of resources put hundreds of plant and animal species on the endangered species list in a short period of time including several species of abalone. The resources stewarded by Indigenous People of California were used by settlers to fund and fuel industrialization and the vast city-scapes and agricultural areas which now cover nearly half of the state’s area. As a result, California and our planet are in a climate and biodiversity crisis threatening human ability to thrive on Earth.

For the past couple of decades, a growing number of scientists, environmentalists and policymakers grapple with solutions for a sustainable future. From renewable energy sources, reducing greenhouse gas emissions to finding new ways to sequester carbon, one solution to the growing environmental crisis has been severely overlooked and underutilized: supporting Indigenous land stewardship.
Indigenous People, which represent a wide diversity of nations and cultures globally, make up around 5% of the human population yet protect 80% of Earth’s biodiversity, while doing little to contribute to climate destruction. Lands managed by Indigeous People and local communities are more biodiverse, reflecting Earth’s oldest and most effective form of conservation. As global organizations like IPBES, IPCC and COP are increasingly recognizing the invaluable contributions of Indigenous People to mitigate climate change and biodiversity loss, it is clear that space must be made in the environmental movement for Indigenous voices. For the benefit of us all, California’s Indigenous People must be uplifted to continue land stewardship practices which both proceed and lead the mutual fight to protect people and places we love from harm.
This subject took the stage at the 2022 Ohana Festival, where the Storyteller’s stage provided a platform for Indigenous peoples to be heard, representing a first step in making space Indigenous voices in the Southern California environmental movement.