The Yurok Tribe's Yurok Condor Restoration Program (YCRP), announces its partners in the reintroduction and management of California condors (Gymnogyps californianus), which is one of the Yurok Tribe鈥檚 flagship conservation projects.
The tribe has partnered with the National Park Service, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in the Northern California Condor Restoration Program (NCCRP).
The collaborative effort to restore condors to Yurok Ancestral Territory and the Pacific Northwest endeavors to reestablish an that has been absent for more than a century, restore the balance and biodiversity that existed prior to Euro-American colonization of the region, and promote a thriving ecology for the benefit of wildlife and humans.
Tiana Williams-Claussen, the Yurok Tribe's Wildlife Department Director, joins the Exchange to offer updates on the progress, particularly in light of recent lead poison found in condors that threaten to set back the efforts of the Yurok and partners.
The Yurok Tribe is one of many indigenous cultures that considers condors sacred. California condors, or prey-go-neesh in Yurok, have been spiritually tied to the Yurok Hlkelonah 鈥� the cultural and ecological landscape 鈥� since the beginning of the world. Condors feature prominently in the Tribe鈥檚 origin narrative, and its feathers and songs are foundational components of Yurok World Renewal ceremonies.
