Office holiday closure

Our office will be closed December 23-January 3. Open space preserves remain open!

Looking across a golden field with a dark oak tree towards mountains in the distance covered by mist and a sun rising on the horizon with a yellow and blue sky

Tribal Partnership

About Tribal Partnership

The Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority is partnering with local Tribes in their efforts to reconnect with their ancestral and traditional lands, to promote their role as partners in land stewardship and to find shared solutions to today's conservation challenges for future generations.

We recognize the historic and enduring relationship that exists between Indigenous Peoples and the land of this region that comprises the Open Space Authority's jurisdiction. Despite years of targeted violence and erasure, local Tribes have endured to protect their language, culture and heritage. Tribes continue to serve as stewards of land and culture and seek access to lands that represent historic territories.

We are honored and humbled to work with local Tribes, and our work to grow and develop these partnerships is ongoing. The Authority is committed to listening, learning and working together to protect open spaces and wildlife, advance land stewardship, manage and protect cultural resources, safeguard water resources, provide environmental education and combat climate change for the benefit of all. 

Land Acknowledgement Statement

The Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority carries out its mission to protect, restore and connect people to the land in the Santa Clara Valley and surrounding Santa Cruz and Diablo Range Mountains. These lands are the ancestral and unceded territories of the Awaswas-, Chochenyo-, Mutsun-, Thámien- and Yokut-speaking peoples. As a public agency, it is our responsibility to acknowledge the historically documented violence and injustice that occurred as local tribal groups were forcibly displaced from these lands.

We also acknowledge and respect Indigenous Peoples of this place, including the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band, Muwekma Ohlone Tribe of the San Francisco Bay Area and Tamien Nation who work today to restore and protect their culture and connect to the land. 

Three photos in a row: far right is a man wearing a plaid shirt speaking into a microphone in front of a white building; middle photo shows an educational panel with the title "Muwekma Means The People" over a photo of people dressed in traditional ceremonial outfits; far right image shows a woman in a brown blazer and brown hat speaking into a microphone on a podium in front of green hills

Goals

Our Tribal partners are actively engaged in conservation work, and we have many shared goals for land, wildlife and natural resources. Through their active research programs, Tribes play an important role as land management partners by employing traditional ecological knowledge to sustainably manage open spaces and to help address climate challenges such as fire, flood and drought.

The Open Space Authority acknowledges our responsibility to:

  • Acknowledge and learn from the past, and listen to current and future Indigenous voices and perspectives.
  • Make sure Tribal partners have a voice in public processes that affect open spaces within the Authority's jurisdiction.
  • Provide Tribes with access to culturally significant lands.
  • Identify opportunities to support Tribal stewardship of these lands in the future.
  • Amplify the voices of Indigenous Peoples and their role as leaders in conservation in our region and the Bay Area. 

Resources