The United States has created a new national marine sanctuary along central California’s coastline, a victory for the tribe that has pursued the designation for a decade, the Biden administration announced Friday.
The Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary is part of U.S. President Joe Biden’s stated goal to protect 30% of U.S. lands and waters by 2030. It is now one of the largest in the National Marine Sanctuary System, made up of 4,543 square miles of coastal waters along 116 miles between San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties.
The sanctuary will be managed with tribal and Indigenous community involvement.
“Generations of U.S. land and water policies have placed Native Americans at a great disadvantage throughout our history,” said Kenneth Kahn, chairman of the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians.
Before the arrival of Spanish colonizers, Chumash people lived up and down the central and southern California coastline from the Malibu area to Morro Bay, including the Channel Islands.
Kahn said last week’s announcement is a welcome sign that the country’s priorities are shifting.
“The Chumash tribal government never relinquished its aboriginal right to manage our traditional homelands. We are grateful that NOAA recognizes this inherent sovereignty and welcomed us as a co-steward of the sanctuary that bears our name.”
The sanctuary excludes areas where transmission cables and other infrastructure to support planned offshore wind facilities could be installed, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said in a statement.
The agency, a division of the Department of Commerce, said it will consider expanding the sanctuary after the cables have been laid.
“The Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary is the result of state, territorial, local and Indigenous leaders partnering with the Biden-Harris Administration to show that we can protect culturally and ecologically important waters while building a clean energy future,” said Brenda Mallory, chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality.
“President Biden has now conserved more than 45 million acres of lands and waters while protecting sites that honor Indigenous communities and tell a fuller story of our nation.”
Reuters contributed to this report.
