Iipay Nation of Santa Ysabel reacquired 1,107 acres on the eastern side of the Volcan Mountains, adjacent to its Santa Ysabel Reservation near Julian, about 45 miles east of San Diego. The property contains oak woodland, native grassland, mixed hardwood and conifer forest and supports protected species including golden eagle and arroyo toad. Funding came from the California Natural Resources Agency's Tribal Nature-Based Solutions program, which allocated $100 million for land returning to indigenous stewardship. The tribe plans the Ewiinally Traditional Ecological Knowledge Center and public access with possible hiking trails and campgrounds to support cultural education and local economic development.
There's just a bunch of beautiful nature there, which is just so exciting to see get back into tribal ownership and care,
The tribe is really thinking about it as an opportunity to invite the broader community onto the land, to connect with the tribe and have a little bit of economic development that then will feed back into the management of that land,
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