West Berkeley Shellmound Sacred Site will be returned to the Lisjan Ohlone

The Berkeley City Council announced a global settlement with the owners of the Shellmound village site and adopted an ordinance giving title of the land to the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust. The deal results in what Ohlone tribal leaders describe as one of the most significant urban land back victories in United States history.

“Today the City of Berkeley made history, and we did it by honoring the first people to live on this land,” said Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguín. “This is a historic step towards righting past wrongs and embracing a future that honors the diverse history of the entire region.”

Beneath what is currently a 2.2-acre parking lot in West Berkeley is the last remaining undeveloped portion of a historical touchstone of singular significance: the first human settlement on the shore of San Francisco Bay, established more than 5,700 years ago. There, at the mouth of Strawberry Creek, the ancestors of today’s Ohlone people created a unique lifeway between land and sea. For countless generations, they practiced ceremonial traditions and constructed a great mound in which they buried their dead—the West Berkeley Shellmound. The City Council’s historic action today secures the oldest Shellmound village site in the Bay Area, an irreplaceable cultural and historic place with significance for the entire region and the nation.

“It’s rare for a city to fight as hard and as long as we did to return land to its original people, but fighting for the most vulnerable, our culture, and our history is central to Berkeley’s DNA,” said Berkeley City Councilmember Sophie Hahn. “This agreement paves the way for a future that respects and nurtures the land and the contributions that the Ohlone made to this sacred place.”

In 2018, the City of Berkeley denied Ruegg & Ellsworth, owners of the parking lot at the Shellmound site, an SB35 building permit application because of the significant cultural importance of the West Berkeley Shellmound. The permit was denied on the basis that the Shellmound is a “historic structure” and designated as a City Landmark since 2000. In response, the owners sued Berkeley. The Confederated Villages of Lisjan Nation (CVLN) intervened in the lawsuit on the side of the city, and the City and CVL won in the Alameda County Superior Court in October 2019. Ruegg & Ellsworth appealed to the California Court of Appeal and the appeals court reversed the lower court victory in April 2021. The City and CVLN petitioned the California Supreme Court to accept the case on appeal to no avail, and as a result the City of Berkeley issued the owners an SB35 building permit in October 2021.

In 2022, the owners listed the 2.2-acre site for sale through a commercial real estate broker but the land was not sold. Berkeley and CVLN entered into negotiations with the owners seeking a global settlement that would resolve all pending litigation issues and transfer title to the land to the City. The owners and the city met on Friday, March 8 for a day-long mediated settlement negotiation. The owners, Ruegg and Ellsworth, agreed to accept $27 million to settle all outstanding claims in the lawsuit, including their damages claims, and to convey the property to the city. $25.5M of the settlement funds were contributed by the Sogorea Te Land Trust; $1.5M was contributed by the city. The City Council voted today to approve an ordinance transferring title of the land to Sogorea Te Land Trust, an Indigenous women-led land trust.

“The City of Berkeley and the Confederated Villages of Lisjan Nation joined together to right a historic wrong, resulting in the rematriation of our oldest Shellmound and Village site to its original people,” said Corrina Gould, Tribal Chair of the Lisjan Nation. “This is not only the largest urban sacred site victory in California’s history, it’s also among the most culturally significant for the Lisjan people.”

The Confederated Villages of Lisjan Nation leader and Co-founder of Sogorea Te’ Land Trust, Corrina Gould, has developed a vision for the West Berkeley Shellmound that honors the land and its history, models ecological restoration through daylighting Strawberry Creek, centers education and art, and most importantly, creates a place for an Ohlone cultural revival.


For more information about the history of the site and the community led fight to preserve it go to http://www.shellmound.org.


https://sogoreate-landtrust.org/2024/03/13/the-west-berkeley-shellmound-sacred-site-will-be-returned-to-the-lisjan-ohlone-through-sogorea-te-land-trust/