Overview
- State officials described the transfer as the largest ancestral land return in the Sierra Nevada foothills and Central Valley.
- The Conservation Fund purchased the Hershey and Carothers ranches and, with state support, transferred the properties to the Tule River Indian Tribe.
- Tule elk were released on Oct. 22 in a collaborative effort by the tribe and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.
- Funding included $7.75 million from CNRA’s Tribal Nature-Based Solutions program, $2.4 million from the Wildlife Conservation Board, plus private philanthropy, with the total price undisclosed.
- The returned lands border the Giant Sequoia National Monument south of the reservation and will support watershed restoration, condor habitat work, and follow last year’s beaver reintroduction.