Land Acknowledgement

Provided to us by the Intertribal Sinkyone Wilderness Council

We, the Whale Gulch Community, acknowledge and appreciate that the land we are on today is situated within the greater Tribal Territory of the Indigenous Sinkyu-ne (“Sinkyone”) Peoples. The Sinkyu-ne have inhabited this region for countless generations. The Whale Gulch-Bear Harbor area is within the territory of the Sinkyu-ne People known as the T’ochowbii’-kiyaah. Descendents of original T’ochchowbii’-kiiyaah and other Sinkyu-ne Peoples today are members of various Tribes in Northern California.

For millennia, the Sinkyu-ne Peoples cared for and maintained the balance of their world for the sake of all life. Indigenous Peoples, lands, ocean and inland waters, and the native plants and animals possess inherent rights and responsibilities that must be respected. Our duty as guests is to not only become educated about Indigenous Peoples’ roles as the guardians of these places, but also to respect Indigenous relationships with these places by honoring the privacy and sanctity of their cultural lifeways, native plant and animal communities.

Acts of genocide and ecocide have caused great harm and in many instances have destroyed entire communities. We pledge to act in support of Indigenous Peoples and the other beings to follow their own paths towards healing. We also acknowledge and will seek to be healed from the acts of violence that immigrant settlers have perpetrated against Indigenous Peoples and Nature. We thank the Sinkyu-ne Peoples, and the land, air, water, plants, animals, and spirits of their territory for allowing us to be in this place today, and for the awareness we are gaining for how to live with more respect toward Indigenous Peoples and Nature.

In 2019, the Whale Gulch Fire Safe Council was first established after realizing that Nancy Peregrine, the one woman that was spearheading all emergency related projects for the community for the last 40 years, would no longer be able to serve the community in the same capacity. We knew it would take several people to fill the responsibilities she was serving and at the same time, the community was changing economically.

During the pandemic, the fire safe council met once a month by Zoom and took on setting up a phone tree and establishing a Neighborhood Emergency Safety Team (NEST) with groups and leaders. We also reached out and connected with the Southern Humboldt Fire Safe Council and Whitethorn Fire Safe Council. We hosted several guest speakers including Yana Valachovic who led a workshop on home hardening. We asked the Intertribal Sinkyone Wilderness Council if they had a land acknowledgement and we read it at the beginning of each meeting.

By 2022, we added Dial My Calls which is one number one person could call to send a message to call everyone at once in case of an emergency and created our Mission Statement.

In 2023-2024, We applied for and received micro grants from the Mendocino Fire Safe Council for fuel reduction and adding address signs to the community for the first time thanks to the efforts of Marie Mills and her daughter Teresa.

In 2024, we became a FireWise Community in both Humboldt and Mendocino Counties and created a FireWise Coordinator position paid for by the fire company to lead and organize these efforts taken on currently by our fire chief, Sascha Kissell.

We are currently looking for more members, coordinating with the Whitethorn Fire Safe Council for evacuation plans, and starting a CERT (Community Emergency Response Team).

We are currently coordinating with the WGVFC to add radio communication into our NEST and CERT organizing.

Contact: Christopher Larson if you are interested in joining our Fire Safe Council or CERT team: keris7@gmail.com

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