Audience(s): Tribes
Tribal Stewardship Policy Priorities: Ancestral Land Return; Navigating State Agencies
Objectives: This toolkit entry describes the return of nearly 40 acres of ancestral land to the Lone Pine Paiute-Shoshone Tribe. This tool highlights an example of collaboration between the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), State Lands Commission, and Lone Pine Paiute-Shoshone Tribe advancing tribal stewardship over ancestral lands.

This toolkit entry was developed to support the implementation of California Natural Resources Agency’s Tribal Stewardship Policy and Toolkit. These tools are intended to increase the capacity of tribes, state agencies, and non-tribal entities to advance tribal stewardship, including tribal access, collaboration, and ancestral land return according to the CNRA Tribal Stewardship Policy.
This toolkit entry includes a case study describing the process of returning School Lands to tribes, an associated webinar featuring State Lands Commission staff discussing the process, and links to additional resources related to this case study.
- Case Study: Land Return of School Lands to Lone Pine Paiute-Shoshone Tribe
- School Lands Dataset and School Lands Viewer (view the Dataset as a map)
- State Lands Commission—School Lands
- State Lands Commission—The Public Trust Doctrine
Resources
- California State Lands Commission
- California Department of Transportation (Caltrans)
- State Lands Commission Tribal Consultation Policy
- Press release: State Lands Commission Announces Return of Native American Tribal Land in Central California
