Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria
A partnership to conserve a fragile coastal estuary for imperiled fish and wildlife north of San Francisco
WRC and the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria began working together in 2023 to conserve a 466-acre property on the Northern California Coast called Dillon Beach Ranch. The tribe already co-manages the Point Reyes National Seashore and Tolay Lake Regional Park, making them the ideal long-term steward to manage these lands for conservation and cultural preservation. Dillon Beach Ranch includes a mile and a half of Pacific coastline and the entire southern shore of the Estero de San Antonio, a small but critically important estuary on Bodega Bay, roughly 40 miles north of San Francisco. For the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria, a federation of Coast Miwok and Southern Pomo communities, this project represents a unique opportunity to reconnect with ancestral lands. Ancestors of the Graton Rancheria community have inhabited the Estero de San Antonio area for centuries, with cultural sites and descendants still present there today. Conserving Dillon Beach Ranch will repatriate the first-ever coastal lands to the tribe. In December 2023, WRC purchased the ranch and will hold it until we can raise the necessary funding to convey these important lands to the Graton Rancheria for permanent conservation.
