LETTER FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Letter from the Executive Director

A little over a year ago I began work as the first Executive Director of the Amah Mutsun Land Trust (AMLT) and I consider it an honor to work in this position. Our organization was founded as the vehicle through which tribal band members, and we who are learning from them, would return to traditional Amah Mutsun tribal territory to steward the land.  In this work we using methods and ways employed by the tribe’s ancestors for thousands of years. All of us involved in the work of the Amah Mutsun Land Trust indeed have a sacred trust to fulfill.

Much has been invested to create the Amah Mutsun Land Trust and guidance and steady encouragement we receive from the tribal band is essential to our success. I am grateful for the warm welcome and support I continue to receive from tribal band members, members of the Tribal Council and the AMLT Board of Directors.

I am happy to say that the land trust has accomplished a lot in the past 12 months. We are participating in stewardship, native plant restoration, cultural learning and research with many partners and are celebrating Amah Mutsun culture and ceremony throughout the tribal territory. We are completing 16 weeks of the Native Stewardship Corps program, we celebrated the reopening of Mt. Umunhum, signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Bureau of Land Management governing research and cultural resource assessment at Cotoni-Coast Dairies, and completed significant research at a 6,500 year-old coastal archaeological site with the University of California. Sempervirens Fund, Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District, Peninsula Open Space Trust, California State Parks The Christensen Fund, Kalliopeia Foundation and National Parks Service remain among our steadfast and much appreciated supporters of these programs.

Although we are for the moment a small organization we are having a big impact thanks to our many generous donors and dedicated part time staffers and consultants. We look forward to growing and building greater organizational capacity to fulfill the many opportunities we see before us. The support we receive from generous individuals and private foundations makes all the difference and all this work possible. Thank you to everyone for your support and for your continued good wishes. Please stay tuned. We are just getting started.

EkOngKar Singh Khalsa, Executive Director

Amah Mutsun Land Trust