But it can be done , and he points to the success stories , including work with the Paiute community in Mariposa Grove in Yosemite Valley who had been removed from their ancestral homeland . CHIPS employs four women as a crew there to help reroute trails around sacred and cultural sites , collect native seeds , remove invasive plants , and do prescribed burns . Thurman Roberts , CHIPS program facilitator , agrees that engaging tribal communities can be a heavy lift . “ There ’ s always going to be bumps and growing pains with anything that ’ s going into a community that ’ s been long devastated with high unemployment rates , drug and alcohol abuse ,” says Roberts , who was hired by CHIPS in 2018 as a field crew worker .
Roberts is of the Washoe people from the Hung A Lei Tí reservation on the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada , south of Tahoe . He attended Humboldt State , staying for 15 years in the North Coast before a yearning to be closer to his aging parents and a desire to help his community pulled him back home . His job now involves outreach , project management , coordinating with government agencies and workforce development .
CHIPS — with its triple-bottom line framework — can be the meeting point for those working on the legacy of mining , forest health , rural economic development , and efforts to restore tribes to their ancestral lands , or erase the pain of the past . Roberts talks about West Point , a place in Calaveras County ravaged by methamphetamine . “ Once all the mills shut down , a lot of people reverted to drug use ,” Roberts says . “ When I explain my situation with Native communities , they say , ‘ Yeah , we have the same thing going on within disadvantaged non- Native communities .’” This is where he sees common ground .
“ I think about family lines and generations , and having a story of a place that they can tie to of being home or being grounded and connected — that just goes beyond any ethnic group experience ,” he says . “ That needs to be preserved , not only to keep those stories and the connection to the Earth , but also to show that we ’ re part of something bigger .”
Ties that bind
Covert and Martin can ’ t wait until the day the pandemic eases and they can safely sit down together in Nevada
City — the town where they both have their offices — to catch up over drinks . They always have plenty to talk about , what with their work on the Deer Creek Tribute Trail and their love of music . Martin is a “ classicalmusician-turned-Irish-musician ” who sings and plays piano , harp , pennywhistle and Irish flute in Nevada County Kitchen Sessions , a Celtic band .
For now , though , they ’ re focused on the next phase of the tribute trail , specifically building the segment on the acreage along Angkula Seo . Through it all , this work must remain tribally centered , Martin says , whether building a trail on Nisenan ancestral land or talking to the public about the genocide during the gold rush .
“ It ’ s our people ’ s job to say , ‘ This really happened ,’” she says . And it ’ s the responsibility of groups such as hers to do the legwork on projects like the trail , but the tribe “ gets to decide what goes on it .” She sees her organization ’ s job as “ the red-tape cutters . That ’ s an easier mission statement than , ‘ I ’ m going to save the Indians .’ Because we save each other .”
As for Covert , she continues to pursue reinstatement of federal recognition for her tribe , more than five decades after it was snatched away . Although UnderCover ’ s live shows have stopped for now , she still sings and writes songs , often in her Nisenan language , with lyrics inspired by the landscape to which her culture is intrinsically tied :
Yo yo yo ( Flower , flower , flower )
Payo u ’ koype ( Let ’ s all go dance )
A Washoe crew works near Bear River Reservoir in Amador County . Calaveras Healthy Impact Project Solutions , founded in 2004 , trains and employs residents of the Sierra Nevada to work on forest restoration projects . PHOTO BY THURMAN ROBERTS
Yomenim k ’ aw hededi ( Springtime is here )
Sena Christian is managing editor of Comstock ’ s . Online at www . senachristian . com and on Twitter @ SenaCChristian .
May 2021 | comstocksmag . com 41