High in the hills above Chico, the Mechoopda Indian Tribe of Chico Rancheria has taken back roughly 450 acres of its ancestral land, a major homecoming for a community that never left. The newly acquired parcels, once privately owned, sit beside the Big Chico Creek watershed and the Big Chico Creek Ecological Reserve below Forest Ranch, tying the tribe back into a landscape it has stewarded for generations.
According to Action News Now, the two properties, described as adjacent to the Big Chico Creek watershed, closed in June. Tribal leaders cast the deal as a return of stewardship to Mechoopda ancestors, not just a real estate transaction, and the station reports the closings were supported by state programs intended to help tribes reacquire ancestral lands.
State funding through Tribal Nature‑Based Solutions
The purchase was helped along by California's Tribal Nature‑Based Solutions program, an initiative of the California Natural Resources Agency that directs funding to tribal land returns and multi‑benefit restoration projects. The agency notes that the program has supported dozens of efforts statewide and, in April 2024, awarded $107.7 million to assist with the return of nearly 39,000 acres to multiple tribes, explicitly listing the Mechoopda among its awardees.
Local track record
This newest acquisition adds to a growing record of land being returned to the Mechoopda in the Chico area. In 2022, California State University, Chico transferred 93 acres in Big Chico Creek Canyon to the tribe under a conservation and stewardship agreement. Chico State has said that transfer was designed to support research, habitat restoration, and cultural practices on tribal land.
Project specifics and next steps
State application records show the Mechoopda originally proposed a broader, multi‑parcel purchase in Butte County totaling about 658 acres from several willing sellers. The focus of that proposal was to safeguard the Big Chico Creek watershed, restore native habitat, and ensure tribal access for cultural uses. The California Natural Resources Agency's TNBS applicant summaries state that grant dollars are intended for land acquisition, planning, and restoration that combine cultural stewardship with wildfire and watershed resilience. The roughly 450 acres reported by Action News Now appear to represent an initial closing within that larger envisioned footprint.
Why this matters
Tribal management of these parcels could reshape how the upper Big Chico Creek watershed is handled in the long term, from fire resilience and native plant recovery to access to culturally important species. Recent coverage of Maidu communities in Butte County has highlighted how tribal practitioners are reviving traditional burning and related practices to cut wildfire risk and revive ecosystems, an approach observers say the Mechoopda are well positioned to expand as more lands return to tribal control. KQED has documented similar Maidu‑led restoration work in the region.
Mechoopda leaders present the Big Chico Creek acquisition as part of a long‑term effort to reclaim stewardship of ancestral territory while also protecting the watershed for nearby communities and researchers. State agencies and conservation partners say they plan to keep working with the tribe on restoration planning and wildfire resilience projects as the work on these newly reacquired lands moves ahead.
