Twenty Years, Twenty Stories
ASLA + NPS Partnership: Restoring Sacred Lands - Tàsmam Kojòm Maidu Cultural Park
Chester, California, 2018
High in California’s Sierra Nevada, in the shadow of Mount Lassen, lies a 2,300-acre valley sacred to the Mountain Maidu people. It is but a fraction of their former homeland, but after more than a century of displacement, it is theirs again. Reclaiming the land was only ever a beginning. The Maidu people want to map a different future for this valley, one that brings their history and heritage to the public, opening part of the valley for visitor education, stewardship, and recreation. The ambitious project is called the Tásmam Kojóm Maidu Cultural Park.
In 2018, to help the Maidu Summit Consortium (MSC) advance this effort, the National Park Service enlisted the support of both the California Sierra and Nevada chapters of ASLA to participate in a two-day design workshop. Joined also by a group of landscape architecture students from UC Davis, the design team worked with the Maidu community to develop concepts for park access and circulation, improved recreational facilities, and site planning for a new visitor station and entry area. Concepts and recommendations developed from this workshop laid the foundation for a recent grant award to MSC for initial infrastructure improvements for California’s first Tribal Cultural Park.
Read more about the ASLA + NPS Partnership