NISENAN MIWOK COLLECTIVE
Nisenan Miwok Collective Mission Statement:
Through Ancestral Guidance, we work to support Land and Water Restoration, Food Sovereignty, Cultural Practices and ceremonies, and the inherent Right to Self-determination and Economic Resiliency for our People - The Southern Hill Nisenan of the Sierra Nevada.
Guiding Principles:
Centered on the Land, Our Culture and Our People
Our Traditions, Cultural Values, and People are at the center of all that we do.
Building Community
We have a responsibility to honor each other with Trust, Respect, and Generosity and will work together to build a community based on these values.
Stewardship
Native Peoples are essential in returning Mother Earth to her inherent healthy ecosystems - Healthy Soil, Water, and Air. The goal for the Collective is to regain lands within our Ancestral Territories, to Steward the land through regenerative practices utilizing the Traditional Ecological Knowledge practiced by our people since the beginning of time, and finally through partnerships that have been forged, to eventually build an Outdoor Field Lab that will be used to help train other tribal communities, so that we build capacity in land management together, using the ways practiced by Indigenous people for thousands of years.
The boundaries of the Southern Hill Nisenan encompass an area “West to the lower edge of the timber where the digger pine and blue oak are, to Latrobe then to Salmon Falls on the South Fork American River down to Michigan Bar named for the water oak on the Cosumnes River”.
Treaty J occurred in the settlement central to the Southern Hill Nisenan Territory, at the confluence of two streams at the northern most area of the lands designated to be the reservation. Covering an area of 6-miles by 11-miles the settlement consisted of the contact period Anglo places of Nashville, Bay State, Enterprise, Sand Ridge Road, Plymouth and habitation areas along the North and Middle Forks of the Cosumnes River. The Southern edge of the Hill Nisenan Territory reaches south past Plymouth and into the fluid boundry between the Hill Nisenan and Northern Sierra Miwok. The treaty encampment of the military was located on the northern point of the reservation land designated for occupancy.
The Southern Hill Nisenan of Sierra Nevada
Treaty J was signed by Nisenan Huk (Headsman) ‘Inkoi, Mo-tos, Hol-Lah, and Boyer at the Nisenan Village Site located near present day Nashville, the central hub of the Southern Hill Nisenan Nation.
We honor our people's legacy through engagement with our community, state parks, local schools, and businesses throughout both El Dorado and Amador Counties.
Seen here is Chief Hunchup at his roundhouse.
We Are the Land and the Land is within Us.
Nisenan Miwok Collective is seeking opportunities for Land Restoration to our people, the Hill Nisenan of the Sierra Nevada.
Our Mission is to incorporate Traditional Land and Water Management techniques and to restore and steward the land, providing food sovereignty, clean waters, and housing for our people and the community.
Middle Fork Cosumnes River Falls
Meet the Team
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Laura Galvan
Hill Nisenan Tribal Member
Chairwoman
Nisenan Miwok Collective
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Regina Martinez
Hill Nisenan Tribal Member
Board Member
Culture Keeper
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David Galvan
Hill Nisenan Tribal Member
Board Member
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Kimberly Tripp
Board Member
Hill Nisenan Tribal Member
Treasurer
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Jr. Valdez
Board Member
Hill Nisenan Tribal Member
Historian and Inter Tribal Outreach