Mayála wàťa restoration project

Summer 2024 - The waší:šiw (Washoe Tribe) has been stewards of the land in and around the Lake Tahoe Basin since time immemorial and want to continue their traditions by taking a more active role in the preservation and protection of traditional Washoe territories. It is crucial for the Washoe Tribe to have a more active role in fire management, wildland fire mitigation, and ecological restoration and conservation in their traditional homelands. Through a stewardship agreement with the USDA Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit (LTBMU), the mayála wàťa (Meeks Meadow) Restoration Project aims to do just that. 

In 1998, the Washoe Tribe entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the LTBMU to restore this meadow. The agreement outlined the responsibilities of both parties and recognized the necessity and value of establishing a formal relationship to manage Tahoe’s land and resources. The LTBMU issued a 30-year, special-use permit to the Washoe Tribe — a huge step that acknowledged the Tribe as the region’s original inhabitants and stewards —  and included the Tribe in land management activities in the Tahoe Basin. In 2019, the Tribe and the LTBMU solidified their commitment to co-managing by signing a stewardship agreement for the mayála wàťa restoration project.

Why Meeks Meadow? 

The waší:šiw have been in the Lake Tahoe Basin for over 15,000 years and have seasonally lived at Meeks Bay and in Meeks Meadow (mayála wàťa) for the last 1,500 years or more. Lake Tahoe is the center of the Tribe’s creation story and the center of its homelands. 

In the summer, waší:šiw would travel from the Carson Valley to their summer homes around Lake Tahoe. They would fish, hunt, gather food and medicine, and collect basket-making materials. At the end of the season, the waší:šiw would burn places like Meeks Meadow to encourage the regrowth of their traditional foods and medicines, which were abundant due to ample moisture. The burning ensured valuable cultural resources were available for future generations. 

Meeks Meadow restoration

European settlers disrupted the seasonal cycle of Washoe people tending to the land in the Lake Tahoe Basin. Waší:šiw were no longer allowed in the Tahoe Basin. Moreover, the Comstock Era settlers destroyed pristine meadows and forests with cattle grazing and logging.

To restore and maintain waší:šiw culture, the Washoe Tribe is working to restore lands that are no longer functioning in a traditional capacity, using traditional practices such as cultural burning, vegetation monitoring, and managment in sites with cultural relevence in their homelands. 

Restoration project status 

The mayála wàťa Restoration Project has experienced several delays, including COVID-19, but now the stars have aligned to move this project forward — as long as the weather cooperates. The Washoe Tribe has received grant funds from the California Tahoe Conservancy, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and others to support their role in the stewardship agreement. 

In conjunction with LTBMU funding, the Washoe Tribe will award a contract and move forward with thinning and conifer removal in Meeks Meadow in fall 2024 and spring 2025. Once the meadow is thinned, the Tribe will work with the LTBMU on a culturally guided prescribed burn and conduct vegetation management in the meadow. 

After initial treatments are completed, the Washoe Tribe will support the long-term stewardship of Meeks Meadow through a variety of Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) practices, including vegetation management, cultivating and harvesting significant native plants, cultural burning, educational teachings, spiritual ceremonies, and other traditional practices. The Washoe Tribe seeks to remain caretakers of mayála wàťa for generations, continuing their long and rich legacy of land management in the Tahoe Basin. 

LTBMU perspective

The LTBMU is working to increase Washoe Tribal engagement in land stewardship within the Tahoe Basin. This work includes supporting opportunities for the Tribe to utilize restoration practices based on Traditional Ecological Knowledge. The Washoe Tribe has been managing and operating Meeks Bay Resort since 1998. The LTBMU plans a Washoe Traditional Ecological Knowledge prescribed fire project at Baldwin Meadow that will allow Tribal members to return cultural fire to the meadow.

“We are committed to strengthening our relationship with the Washoe Tribe through strong collaboration, as demonstrated in the mayála wàťa project,” LTBMU Forest Supervisor Erick Walker said. “The cultural expertise and knowledge of the Washoe Tribe, honed over the past 15,000 years in the Tahoe Basin, contributes immeasurably to better outcomes for restoration projects that benefit both the land and its inhabitants.”

Rhiana Jones is the environmental director of the Washoe Environmental Protection Department for the Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California. Brian Garrett is the assistant vegetation management staff officer with the USDA Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit.