Chumash people in California to co-steward marine sanctuary in historic partnership

Associated Press

For more than 10,000 years, Native Americans have been living along California’s central coast. Now the area will soon be part of a new national marine sanctuary that Native people will co-steward with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary designated by the Biden administration earlier this month is the first partnership of its kind and will give the Chumash people a say in the way the sanctuary is preserved. It covers California coastal waters containing diverse marine life increasingly threatened by climate change and pollution from human activities.