Breaking Ground at the West Berkeley Shellmound
In March 2024, the Confederated Villages of Lisjan Nation, celebrated the return of the West Berkeley Shellmound, our oldest sacred site. Through community organizing, actions, ceremonies, and legal interventions we raised $25.5 million to buy back our land and halt any further destruction.
The land was transferred to the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust (STLT) — an urban Indigenous women-led land trust based in the SF East Bay Area. Through the leadership of women of Lisjan Nation, STLT works to restore vital relationships with Indigenous people and Indigenous lands. We are now raising funds to begin the first phase of restoration.
Shellmound History
Beneath the pavement in West Berkeley is the first human settlement on the shores of San Francisco Bay, where our ancestors created a community that thrived between land and sea for countless generations. Here, our people lived, practiced sacred traditions, and built a great mound where our ancestors were laid to rest.
Standing over 20 feet high and hundreds of feet long, it was built by our ancestors more than 5,000 years ago—making it older than the pyramids of Egypt and most of the world’s major cities.
The site was decimated in stages, sold as fertilizers, plundered by archeologists and early settlers and razed to the ground to infill the marshlands of the city, eventually becoming the site of the Spengers restaurant parking lot in the 1950s.
While nearly all of the sacred sites in the Bay Area have been completely destroyed, the earth beneath the 2.2 acres of asphalt at 1900 4th St in West Berkeley has remained virtually untouched. It is thousands of years old, surrounded by development in an expensive shopping district, but somehow the land could still be open to the sky and its earth has not yet been upturned.
Threat of Destruction
In 2018, a developer announced plans for a massive new project that would upturn and destroy what was left of the site. A new fasttrak housing law allowed the developers to bypass environmental review and Tribal cultural consultation and proceed with their plans, bringing imminent destruction of the remaining cultural landscape to build towering condominiums on its ruins.
Together with activists, Indigenous and interfaith communities, allies, artists and many many supporters, we fought to protect the land through education, art, community organizing, ceremonies, prayer, and ongoing legal action for years.
Rematriation
Finally, in March 2024, the City of Berkeley, Lisjan Nation and Sogorea Te’ Land Trust with the support of countless allies, collaborated to rematriate the land.
Sogorea Te’ Land Trust raised more than 25.5 million dollars through the Shuumi Land Tax to contribute to securing the land from the developers. The City of Berkeley led the negotiation, creating an agreement to bring an end to all litigation with all parties and acquire the site for 27 million dollars. The City Council unanimously approved an ordinance to then immediately transfer the land to the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust. It is the largest known urban Indigenous land return in history.
Today, the West Berkeley Shellmound is a living link to our ancestors. Though it’s still covered by asphalt, this last 2.2 acres of open land is an anchoring place for our community, our prayers, and our ceremonies.
The Time is Now
Since the return we have been spending time with the land and engaging in a variety of consultations with cultural keepers, engineers, sceintists, waterway restoration experts, contractors, landscape architects, and a variety of specialists to inform our possible futures and prepare a path forward.
At the same time, we have been navigating challenges in transitioning from a public “parking lot” to a rematriated sacred site including ongoing harassment, vandalism, dumping, and safety issues that have already caused us thousands of dollars in expenses.
It’s been nearly 200 years since the destruction of the Shellmound began. Against all odds the land is now back in the care of its relatives. We’ve taken time to listen and learn. The land is ready. Now is the time to begin to restore this sacred place to honor.
Our Vision
Our near term vision for the West Berkeley Shellmound is to begin remediation of the impacts of mistreatment the land has experienced and begin restoration of the native landscape.
Our broader vision includes the daylighting of Strawberry Creek and a restored riparian zone, the creation of a gathering and ceremonial space, a place to share the story of the land and its original people, and someday being able to bring home the ancestors that were taken from this sacred site.
How You Can Help
With your support, we seek to raise $1 million to Let the Land Breathe.
In this first phase we will remove the concrete, bring down unsafe structures, and begin the journey of restoring the West Berkeley Shellmound back to balance and honor.
In addition to removing the concrete, funds raised during this capital campaign will be used for related expenses including permitting, fencing, containers, soil, seeds, and Native plants. We will also allocate a percentage of funds we raise to support meaningful community outreach and service connection for the unhoused residents currently living on our land.
Donate
For contributions over $1000, checks can be made to the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust and sent to Po Box 6758 Oakland CA 94603. Please write “Let the Land Breathe” in the Memo.
If you encounter issues with or need to change your contribution, please contact rosa (at) rematriatetheland (dot) org. If you would like to discuss a significant contribution, please contact ariel (at) rematriatetheland (dot) org.