Davis Enterprise

Tribe wants to purchase its ancestral homeland

By Beth Curda

The Rumsey Band of Wintun Indians is rumored to be buying about 1,500 acres in northwestern Yolo County called the Rumsey Canyon Ranch.

Yolo County officials had been trying to secure grant funding to buy the land, although it appears they may be too late.

A tribe spokeswoman said Wednesday she could not confirm that the sale had been completed or release a price, but Chairman Marshall McKay said in a written statement that the tribe had 'made the decision to re-acquire' the ranch as it is ancestral homeland.

Yolo County Parks and Resources Director Warren Westrup said he had not seen official documents confirming a purchase by the tribe, but that he had heard it may happen.

He said the loss of the county's opportunity to buy it was disappointing, but that he still is hoping for a chance to team up with the tribe to protect the habitat and cultural value of the land while creating a compatible recreation area.

'The Rumsey Band of Wintun Indians made the decision to re-acquire lands that comprise the tribe's ancestral homelands, specifically, property in the Capay Valley that is today known as Rumsey Canyon Ranch,' the tribe's McKay said in a statement e-mailed to The Enterprise. 'The tribe intends to preserve this important piece of the tribe's heritage in its present state because of its historical and cultural significance to the tribe.'

He said the land contains a village that 'is the tribe's last ancestral home before its people were forcibly removed to federal land.'

'We understand the county had plans to develop the property as a recreational site,' McKay continued, 'and we seriously considered the possibility of working with the county in this venture.

'After evaluating the county's proposal to develop the site, the Tribal Council and the tribe's Cultural Committee concluded that such development plans were fundamentally inconsistent with the need to preserve the land in its present state. Therefore, the Tribal Council and Cultural Committee concluded it was in the best interest of the tribe to re-acquire and preserve the property on which its ancestors once lived, in its natural and undisturbed state, for the tribe's future generations.'

According to a description in a county report from a Sept. 30 meeting of the Board of Supervisors, the ranch sits along the Colusa County border and includes small tributaries to Cache Creek, rock outcrops, spring and seasonal creeks, oak woodlands, Cache Creek floodplain, hills and peaks reaching 2,400 feet.

It has been grazed as agricultural land, the report said, but had been on the market as residential property.

It was on the market for two years, county officials said, and once was listed at $5 million, but had been appraised recently at $3.45 million.

The property links open lands managed by the county, the Bureau of Land Management and the Department of Fish and Game.

County officials had been interested in it because it connected other public lands, amounting to nearly 75,000 acres of protected land, the report said.

The county had been trying to secure funding from the state Wildlife Conservation Board. Officials estimated the funding would cover 80 to 85 percent of the cost.