Save The Redwoods League: Returning ’O Rew -- Redwood lands back in Yurok hands

As Yurok Tribal Chairman Joseph James drives past the place his people call ‘O Rew... he says a prayer of joy and happiness for ancestral land renewed and returned. Only five years ago, the view from Highway 101 was of a derelict sawmill: acres of crumbling asphalt, a buried floodplain, the remnants of an industry that had left the nearby town of Orick behind. Today, it’s nearly half a million planted seedlings, a rewilded stretch of Prairie Creek, and a new visitor gateway to Northern California’s redwoods — built around an Indigenous perspective and now owned and stewarded by the Yurok Tribe. “This is an exercise in our sovereignty,” says James of the ‘O Rew Redwoods Gateway, which Save the Redwoods transferred to the Yurok Tribe on June 29, 2026, for permanent protection and public access. “This project represents a truly just approach to the restoration of culturally important landscapes and Tribal communities. I believe it’s a leading example of what we need across the nation.” Story HERE.