Amah Mutsun Land Trust Acquires First Property in Ancestral Territory

kuluulistak* (Gilroy, Calif.) Sept 20, 2025 – Amah Mutsun Land Trust (AMLT) announces that by the end of 2025, AMLT will acquire a 50-acre property near the intersection of Highways 129 and 101 in San Juan Bautista, Calif., marking the first time the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band (AMTB) has regained full access rights to land in its traditional territory since their forced removal over 225 years ago.

This acquisition is a powerful step for the Land Trust, now in its tenth year. “This moment is transformational,” said AMLT Executive Director Noelle Chambers. “We at AMLT are proud to join the broader Indigenous community in the critical work of ancestral land return. The organization’s first decade was focused on building partnerships while re-learning and re-engaging Indigenous stewardship practices. After building our organizational capacity, we are positioned to move into the next phase of AMLT – acquiring lands for long-term Tribal stewardship.”

This land, renamed tooromakma hinse nii, is part of the greater Juristac landscape, a critical cultural and sacred space for the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band. The name, “pronounced toe row mock ma hēēn say knee”, means “bobcats wander here” and honors our bobcat relatives who inhabit this landscape. Chairman Valentin Lopez shared “Our ancestors lived on these lands for thousands of years and hundreds of generations. Through colonization, they were forced to endure slavery, abuse, and to forsake our traditional culture and spirituality. Today, we are realizing the enormous efforts of the Amah Mutsun people and our partners in restoring our traditional ways and our return to our traditional Tribal territory.”

The Amah Mutsun community has been working for many years to protect the broader Juristac landscape through the “Protect Juristac” campaign. This campaign has obtained thousands of signatures and letters in opposition to the proposed Sargent Quarry, which would negatively impact over 400 acres of sacred land. The acquisition of these 50 acres is the first important step in what is hoped to be continued success in protecting and restoring Juristac.

This 50-acre property is part of a critical wildlife corridor with access to the headwaters of the Pajaro River. While it is a relatively small property, it provides an essential safe passage for wildlife from the Santa Cruz Mountains to the Gabilan Range in the south and the Diablo Range in the east. Chairman Lopez added, “The Amah Mutsun people believe that it is our responsibility to care for our plant, 2-legged and 4-legged relatives until the last sunrise. We believe in passing down our knowledge and teaching the next generation to honor that sacred responsibility. Reconnection with our ancestral land provides an opportunity for healing Mother Earth, our people, our future generations, and all non-Native people. This property acquisition reaffirms our commitment to cultural revitalization and ecological healing and is representative of the enduring resilience of the Amah Mutsun people.”

The acquisition of this land was facilitated through deep and trusting partnerships with Community Foundation Santa Cruz County and Trust for Public Land (TPL), with additional support from Wildlife Conservation Network, Peninsula Open Space Trust, and Land Trust of Santa Cruz County. Chairman Lopez thanks these organizations for their support: “Amah Mutsun people believe that to move forward positively from the harm inflicted on Indigenous peoples, we must all show up, take steps to heal, and support this work of restoration with the land and each other. AMLT is deeply honored to walk this path of healing with its partners.”

CEO of Community Foundation Santa Cruz County, Susan True, says of the partnership: “Our partnership with AMLT, Land Trust of Santa Cruz County and TPL is fostering a deep relationship between the organizations and the communities we represent, as we work together to preserve land prioritized for both wildlife conservation and ancestral cultural values. The 50-acre parcel of land has long been recognized as holding special significance for both goals, but its high cost and other issues posed serious challenges to its protection. Due to the Community Foundation’s flexible structure, we were able to work with TPL to raise the funds and purchase the land, and we are honored to transfer the property to AMLT for long-term stewardship.”

Vice President of the Pacific Region and California State Director at Trust for Public Land, Guillermo Rodriguez adds, “Trust for Public Land is proud to be part of this historic moment and honored to support the return of this land to the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band and Land Trust. This unique project showcases the power of regional partnerships to achieve cultural revitalization, wildlife conservation, and habitat restoration for the benefit of people and nature.”

It is important to note that land acquisition and ownership are not Indigenous concepts. The Amah Mutsun Tribal Band does not believe they own the land in their ancestral territory, but that the land is Creator’s and that the Amah Mutsun have a sacred responsibility to Creator to steward it. Through ownership of this land by AMLT, the Tribe will have long-term security in the ability to access, steward, gather, harvest from, and pray on the land.


About the Amah Mutsun Land Trust: Formed by the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band in 2015, AMLT is an Indigenous land trust that engages Tribal members, community volunteers, conservation organizations, and public land agencies in stewardship and conservation partnerships that restore sacredness to ancestral Mutsun and Awaswas lands and waters. The Amah Mutsun Land Trust is the vehicle by which the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band is returning to the lands, knowledge, and practices of their ancestors.

About the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band: The Amah Mutsun Tribal Band comprises descendants of the Indigenous peoples who were taken to the missions at San Juan Bautista and Santa Cruz during the Spanish colonization of California’s Central Coast. The traditional territory of the Amah Mutsun encompasses all or portions of the modern counties of San Benito, Santa Clara, Monterey, and Santa Cruz. Today’s tribe represents the surviving descendant families of 20 distinct historic tribal groups and currently has an enrolled membership of nearly 600 people.
*kuluulistak translates to “Place of the Elbow”