LEE
BLANKENSHIP
Work
Beneath Bark
Deschutes is Still
Sonoma Salt
Strange Landscapes
Pacific Spore
Inyo
Flathead
Okinikane
Mermentau
2. Sonoma Salt
From Sonoma County California The Pomo, Coast Miwok and Wappo peoples were the earliest human settlers of Sonoma County, between 8000 and 5000 BC, effectively living within the natural carrying capacity of the land. Archaeological evidence of these First people includes a number of occurrences of rock carvings, especially in southern Sonoma County; these carvings often take the form of pecked curvilinear nucleated design.
Six nations have claimed Sonoma County from 1542 to the present:
Spanish Empire, 1542 Kingdom of England, 1579 Spanish Empire, 1775 Russian Empire, 1812 First Mexican Empire, 1821 Mexican Republic, 1823 California Republic, 1846 United States of America, 1846
From The Trust for Public Land “Twelve thousand five hundred years,” says Chairman Franklin. “Archaeological records show that’s how long Kashia were on this land. Two hundred years ago, the Russians came. The ‘Undersea People.’ Why did we call them that? Look.” He gestures to the sweeping Pacific, stretching to the horizon behind him. “That view had stayed the same for thousands of years. Until a mast appeared, and then a boat. The Undersea People. From that day forward, everything changed for us.”
Years of negotiations, fragile alliances—built, destroyed, repaired—and the hopes and dreams of a people have led to this day: the transfer of nearly 700 acres of Northern California coastal prairie and redwood forest back to the Kashia, its historic caretakers.