nous Research Project , founded in 2015 to “ preserve , protect and perpetuate Nisenan culture .”
In 2018 , as the result of being at the right place at the right time and some creative thinking , CHIRP acquired 32 acres of land along Deer Creek , or what the Nisenan call Angkula Seo , not far from downtown Nevada City . The nonprofit Sierra Fund has been instrumental in the project , in part by securing a grant from the California Natural Resources Agency for the land transaction . The grant limits that the land , called the Nisenan Cultural Reclamation Corridor , only be used for open space , recreation , habitat and cultural protection , in perpetuity . A new segment of the Deer Creek Tribute Trail will go across the property , which is on the former site of the Champion- Providence Mine — adjoining mines built atop an old Nisenan town .
The tribute trail is moderately traversed , and a weekday morning will find dog walkers , trail runners , clusters of teenagers and others on the route ; many are locals , but some are out-of-towners who can make an easy day trip from Sacramento or the Bay Area . Millions of visitors pay homage to the Sierra Nevada each year , coming to hike , whitewater raft , ski , boat and fish , and maybe eat in an old saloon transformed into a modern restaurant , or shop for antiques or vinyl records in a historic gold rush town . Many guests stay at mom-andpop hotels or at campgrounds , able for those few nights to gaze into a star-studded black sky framed by dense groves of pine , sequoia , cedar and oak trees .
And pay they do , contributing about $ 3.6 billion in economic impact annually and supporting 36,400 tourism jobs in a place where some 600,000 people live . The region , which covers more than 25 million acres , includes about half of California ’ s forests and supplies most of its drinking water . It sustains many animal and plant species , supplies roughly half of the state ’ s annual timber yield , and produces most of its hydroelectric
( CALIFORNIA ’ S GOLD RUSH ) LEFT SCARS ON THE SURFACE . … I ’ M A LIFETIME ENVIRONMENTALIST , AND SOMETIMES THE RIGHT THING TO DO IS TO PUT IN A PARKING LOT . … ( FOR A CENTURY AND A HALF , WE ) HAD NOT REALLY COME TO GRIPS WITH THE SIZE , THE MAGNITUDE OF THE PROBLEM LEFTOVER FROM THE MINING ERA .
ELIZABETH “ IZZY ” MARTIN CEO , The Sierra Fund
power . But all of this could be at risk if the environmental and humanitarian damage of the past aren ’ t remedied .
Today , an estimated 47,000 abandoned mine features — including underground tunnels , old support structures , shallow pits and other hazards — litter the Sierra Nevada . Most are a remnant of the gold rush that ushered in a new industry and a mass migration of more than 300,000 people from 1848 to 1855 . The prospectors dreamed of riches and engaged in activities that would leave behind a 170-year ( and counting ) legacy of scars .
Over the past two decades , a coordinated effort focused on science and policy , education and awareness , and an entrepreneurial approach to workforce development has been underway to come to grips with this lasting legacy . These efforts might now be at a tipping point , helped , however unfortunately , by California ’ s recent massive wildfires and how it is once again in a drought , which show the urgency and importance of restoring the health of the Sierra Nevada .
A divine right
Earth is a gold miner ’ s paradise . Hot water and pressure beneath the planet ’ s surface commingled to create gold in the Earth ’ s crust , distributing the precious metal widely all over the globe . Treasure seekers can find gold as lodes formed in cracks in the Earth , or as placer deposits , loose gold collected in sand or the gravel of riverbeds . Gold is heavy and settles at the lowest point it can go . Untarnishable , gold can also be pressed thin and shaped into multiple forms . It ’ s no wonder gold has been prized throughout human civilization .
But the mineral carves a dirty path on its way to consumers . California ’ s gold rush “ left scars on the surface ,” says Elizabeth “ Izzy ” Martin , the CEO of The Sierra Fund , based in Nevada City . “ Sometimes you ’ ll see in the middle of town just a big open field ,” she says . Mining that occurred in these places was a messy and disruptive process that left behind hazardous levels of contaminants like lead , mercury , cadmium , asbestos and arsenic . “ Sometimes the right thing is to take contaminated land and seal it in with a parking lot ,” Martin says . “ I ’ m a lifetime environmentalist , and sometimes the right thing to do is to put in a parking lot .”
Although Indigenous people had , since prehistoric times , modified the landscape and caused widespread ecological change , the arrival of Europeans and Americans for the gold rush brought a much more invasive level of alterations with the construction of dams , permanent manipulation of rivers , clear-cutting of old-growth
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