"Reviving Indigenous Rights: Winnemem Winto's Triumph in Land Restoration and Salmon Conservation"
The Winnemem Wintu tribe in Northern California has purchased 1,080 acres of their ancestral lands, using private donations, to reintroduce their sacred salmon, the winter-run Chinook, to the McCloud River. The tribe had been fighting for almost a decade to save the endangered fish, whose population declined due to the construction of the Shasta Dam. The land purchase will also support the construction of an eco-village that combines Indigenous living traditions with sustainable land management practices. This success is part of the broader land back movement, which aims to return ancestral lands to Indigenous peoples and promote environmental conservation.