Descendants of the first residents of the Los Angeles Basin have been without land of their own for nearly 200 years.

Two years ago, an acre of land dotted with oak trees and shrubs on the outskirts of Altadena became the first land to be returned to the Tongva people. They finally have space to hold traditional ceremonies, community gatherings and other events.

The fire that broke out on Jan. 7 in the mountains near Eaton Canyon had scorched more than 14,000 acres as of Friday and caused significant damage to property, including destroying an old stone house and a garage on the property.

Still, without implementation on the land, according to the Tongva Taraxat Paxaavxa Conservancy, a nonprofit dedicated to restoring and protecting the lands and cultural heritage of the Tongva people in the Los Angeles area Without the practices of indigenous peoples, the losses may be even more serious.

Wallace Cleaves, chairman of the conservancy's board of directors, credits traditional management practices, including cutting down 97 fire-prone eucalyptus trees, with reducing the impact of wildfires.

"We do believe that the work we did to remove invasive and dangerous species from the property likely mitigated the damage and made it more likely that the native plants would recover rather than suffer as much loss," he said.

For thousands of years, the Tongva people thrived in the San Gabriel Mountains. Its gorges provided ample food and served as a trading route between distant Aboriginal communities. But by the early 20th century, the Tongva lost their ancestral homeland in Southern California as waves of settlers, including Spanish, Mexicans and later white Americans, were displaced and enslaved.

Cleaves and Conservation Commission member Charles Sepulveda wrote that they seek to have usable land returned to them through the Land Return movement without federal recognition or reservations A 2021 Bloomberg article.

"We need a place where we can gather food, medicine and sacred plants without worrying about the arbitrary restrictions of a land management system that mismanages the land and results in it now burning endlessly," they wrote. "We need A place to gather and renew ourselves, our culture and our communities.”

The 1-acre property, which now provides a new connection to the Tongva people, originally belonged to Sharon Alexander, whose family built a Spanish ranch-style home on the wooded property in 1931 of houses. Alexander used the house as a rental and therefore transferred the land to be made available to the Tongva people in 2022 after understanding its ancestral significance.

Since then, the Tongva community has been working to restore the land based on traditional ecological knowledge and develop properties to support community gatherings.

In addition to clearing out the eucalyptus trees, Cleaves said they also planted 50 mature oak trees and removed tons of old firewood and other debris. Cultural burning is another traditional land management practice, but the Tongva people have so far been unable to practice it on their property due to permit requirements.

“Our responsibility is to be good stewards of the land, plants and animals in our care,” Cleaves said. "So we put a lot of effort into restoring as much Aboriginal habitat as possible."

Cliffs has been unable to visit the land since wildfires swept through Eaton Canyon, destroying large swaths of Altadena. But he believes the ranch house on the property is still relatively intact, based on publicly available images. No one lives on the land, he said.

He said that while some oak trees looked charred, many still had green leaves. The oak tree is one of the sacred plants of the Tongva people; its acorns are a staple in traditional meals.

"We know our oak tree, we know it's very resilient," he said. “We hope that most oak trees will recover from this outbreak and continue to remain healthy and a part of our communities.”

Bobcats, coyotes and bears also visit the land, he said. He wasn't sure how they were doing.

Cliffs said he hoped the Tongva people would be able to return later this year for the ceremony.

"When we think about Indigenous-led approaches, such as cultural burning or other Indigenous management, it really helps mitigate and build resilience to climate change," said Nina, a research scientist at UC Davis who focuses on Indigenous land management. Fontana said.

Fontana said that as the Los Angeles region begins to recover and rebuild from the devastating fires in Altadena and Pacific Palisade, it is critical that state and federal agencies work with tribal communities to incorporate indigenous experiences. Practices such as cultural burning are place-based, developed around specific terrains and ecosystems, she said.

“It’s important to listen to Aboriginal voices and understand that the knowledge that communities have is thousands of years old,” she said. “I think listening and practicing this knowledge is really going to be key to the future of wildfire.”

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