In a move that can only be described as "better late than a few centuries," California has approved the transfer of 136 acres of coastline at Blues Beach in Mendocino County to Indigenous tribal ownership. As Trending Views reported, the land will now be owned and maintained by the Kai Poma, making it the first time property managed by the California Department of Transportation has been returned to Indigenous tribes.
Yes, you read that correctly. Caltrans, the agency famous for orange cones, endless highway construction, and making your commute miserable, was apparently also in the business of holding onto 136 acres of pristine Mendocino coastline. One of the most beautiful stretches of northern California shoreline was just sitting in the filing cabinet of the people who manage on-ramps. Nobody thought to question that arrangement until now.
The parcel sits along one of the more remote sections of the Mendocino coast, which is saying something because basically all of the Mendocino coast qualifies as remote. It is gorgeous, rugged land that the state's transportation department had about as much business managing as your dentist has managing your retirement portfolio.
Under the terms of the transfer, Kai Poma will take over ownership and the responsibility of maintaining the land. Public access to the coastline will remain intact, as required by California state law. So if you were worried about losing your ability to visit Blues Beach, relax. You can still go. The only difference is that the people who lived there for thousands of years before anyone drew a property line are now back in charge of taking care of it.
California has been on something of a land return streak in recent years, transferring various properties held by state and local agencies back to Indigenous tribes. But this one stands out because the land was held by Caltrans rather than a parks or natural resources department. It raises the obvious question of how many other random parcels of land are just floating around in the inventories of state agencies that have no logical connection to them. Is the Department of Motor Vehicles sitting on a lake somewhere? Does the tax board own a canyon?
Regardless of the bureaucratic absurdity that led to a highway agency controlling a stretch of coastline, the outcome here seems pretty straightforward. Land that belonged to Indigenous people for millennia, then ended up in the hands of a transportation department for reasons nobody can fully explain, is going back to Indigenous ownership. The public still gets access, the coastline still gets maintained, and Caltrans can go back to focusing on what it does best, which is apparently everything except finishing road construction on time.
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