In California, Tribal Members Are Reclaiming the ‘Land of the Flowing Water’

Several tribes in Owens Valley in the eastern Sierra Nevada see hope in small property transfers that have become part of a growing “Land Back” movement.

The vast territory known as the Owens Valley was home for centuries to Native Americans who lived along its rivers and creeks fed by snowmelt that cascaded down the eastern slopes of the Sierra Nevada.

Then came European settlers, and over time, tribe members lost access to nearly all of that land. Eventually, the water was lost, too: In the early 20th century, the developers of Los Angeles famously built a 226-mile-long aqueduct from Owens Lake to the city. It was this project, the story goes, that allowed Los Angeles to become the booming metropolis that it is today.

Less familiar is what happened to the Owens Valley, and the people who lived there, after most of the water was sent south. Owens Lake is now a patchwork of saline pools covered in pink crystals and wetlands studded with gravel mounds designed to catch dust. And today, the four recognized tribes in the area have less than 2,000 acres of reservation land, estimated Teri Red Owl, a local Native American leader.

But things are changing, tribal members say. They have recently reclaimed corners of the valley, buoyed by growing momentum across the country to return land to Indigenous stewardship, also known as the “Land Back” movement.

In recent years, Native American tribes have reclaimed hundreds of acres of ancestral land, often following decades of advocacy. Members of Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation have repurchased 130 acres in Illinois, which will become a federally recognized reservation for the tribe. And some 850 acres of land along the Mattaponi River in Virginia were returned to Indigenous stewardship and preservation.

In California, state and local leaders have acknowledged a dark history of brutality toward Native Americans, and tribes have reclaimed territory up and down the state.