oped land,” he tells me. “What the Richardsons have done [by selling this ranch] is to create a balance: protecting the land from people while still allowing them to come to the land. The Kashia aren’t the only ones who come out here to pray. To see the coast, the birds and plants, that is a deep prayer for me.”
A
Gathered around the fire, Franklin and other Kashia lead tribal dancers in song, keeping the beat with hand-hewn clapper sticks. Eight men, wearing feathers and mimicking a bird’s gait and gaze, enter the circle from the west, followed by seven women.
In the distance, osprey soar over the coastline, searching for their next meal. Kashia children gather plants in the cool shade of a young redwood grove. At the foot of the drive- way into the ranch, an agave Americana plant stands in full bloom. The flowers topping its 30-foot stalk signal the end of the plant’s life cycle—a moment of transition. This plant will die, but more will emerge from its roots, both replacing and propagating their predecessor. “I feel so thankful to have had the opportunity to work on this project with the Kashia,” says Moriarty. “It’s not just a story of important environmental conservation. It’s also an important social justice story—an opportunity to do right, and do well.”
Chairman Franklin nods his head in agreement. “This experience has been not only beneficial but healing for us. We stand in this place today a complete people. We are at a moment that all of us prayed for, that we fought for, and our elders guided us through. “This is a historic day,” he adds. “Soak it in.”
fter prayers and food, we walk up the hill to a meadow, where a small fire marks the center of a dance circle. I fall in next to a man named Jonathan Toste, a local open space advocate who was keen to show his support by at- tending the ceremony. “The coast is a mosaic of undeveloped and devel-
“This is a historic day.
Soak it in.”
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