Fred Collins Environmental & Land-Use Consulting, Educational Services Teaching Nature, Native Culture, & Farming

The Northern Chumash Tribal Council (NCTC)

by Fred Collins

The Northern Chumash Tribal Council (NCTC) is involved with several important county land use issues that have received media attention.   I am the Tribal Administrator for NCTC and I would like to share with our readers who and what NCTC is all about. 

NCTC has our corporate offices at 67 South Street, San Luis Obispo, and our field office is located in Los Osos.  NCTC was formed under the guidelines of Senate Bill 18 in 2006 as a State Recognized Tribal Government, organized and dedicated to preservation of the Chumash Culture and Sacred Sites.  NCTC is dedicated to meaningful consulting with local governments and the development community, and supporting tribal community's well-being.  All NCTC staff is volunteer, with no paid employees.  All members of NCTC are Chumash family members from San Luis Obispo.

Under the guidelines for State Recognized Tribal Government Qualifications, NCTC has met all of the requirements. NCTC is a non-profit State and Federal tax exempt corporation meeting all the qualifications to be placed on the State of California Native American Heritage Commissions (NAHC) California Environmental Quality Act list for local government consultation concerning cultural resource issues in San Luis Obispo County.  NCTC has met all the qualifications to be placed on the NAHC Senate Bill 18 list for General Plan Amendments with local cities and counties.

NCTC is a Chumash Senate Bill 18 compliant Chumash governing tribal council located in San Luis Obispo County.  NCTC is recognized as a Native American tribe by the surrounding community, other tribal governments, and local governments.   NCTC consulting teams are engaged in consultation with local and state government agencies and every city in San Luis Obispo County and the county itself regarding land use, environmental, and cultural resource issues.

NCTC Project Development Consulting and Cultural Educational Awareness programs provide the following services, NCTC project development consulting team offers:

a. Advice on how projects can be planned and approved in accordance with Chumash values.
b. Advice and participation in theme/design workshops for incorporating Chumash values.
c. When the project has incorporated appropriate Chumash values NCTC will advise, assist, and support in the final approvals of the project through the Planning Commission, Board of Supervisors, California Coastal Commission, and all other governmental, judicial, or regulatory bodies.

NCTC Educational Projects team is dedicated to the education of our culture to the local community through:

a. Children's Classes
b. Adult Lectures
c. Lectures at local colleges and universities
d. Native American Awareness Training for government and development projects.
e. Educational community events
f. Chumash outdoor learning parks
g. Chumash led tours
h. Development of Chumash Cultural Center  (See Northern Chumsh.org for list of all projects.)
g.  Local Chumash Community sponsored events, Tomol Gatherings

Tomol Gatherings

Chumash Dancers

Village hop 2012 Elder Pilulaw Khus

Village Hop Avila Beach 2012

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NCTC does not receive funds from Santa Ynez Reservation or any other funding source, our revenues come from consulting and grants.   NCTC is moving forward into the future with the development of its agriculture programs.  NCTC will become self-reliant through the development of NCTC model concept "The One Acre Urban Vertical Farm."  NCTC has received a grant to build a pilot-program vertical farm. NCTC is the only vertical farm in San Luis Obispo County we are about 50% completed with our project, we have a working vertical operation growing strawberries year around in our greenhouses.

NCTC envisions vertical (high density) urban farming as a business model that can be replicated in local communities everywhere, especially for Native American communities. The One-Acre Farm  pilot program is about prototyping and advancing NCTC's corporate business model to replicate, whether within the extended Chumash community or in the Native American community at large or the national, and international markets.

Among the advantages of vertical farming over conventional farming are:

1. Quality food for less
2. Reduce water consumption by as much as 85%
3. reduce fertilizer use by as much as 80%
4. minimize energy use and GHG emissions by eliminating trucking and the use of heavy equipment
5. minimize the chance of contaminating food supplies
6. eliminate any dependency on distant sources of supply
7. create local jobs that cannot be outsourced
8. greatly reduce the need for land, labor and capital

Jason Giffen director of Community Development San Luis Obispo County talking with Fred Collins about Vertical Farming

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NCTC is very excited about the possibilities of vertical and organic farming in general.  We believe in the small family farms that are emerging with the expansion of farmers markets and in the need for healthier foods.  This all creates a better balance with Mother Earth (Hutash).   NCTC's goal is to create a revenue stream that will allow NCTC to purchase land in the future so that NCTC members can come back to the land to live with their families.

NCTC has been involved with the implementation of the UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) 2007.  NCTC brought San Luis Obispo County an UNDRIP resolution which the county passed, making SLO the first county in the US to endorse the UNDRIP.   For the first time Indigenous Peoples of the World are uniting and standing up for equal rights as a Race of Peoples.             

August 9th 2011 San Luis Obispo BOS Chambers UN Resolution passed.

The three most important aspects of the UNDRIP for most Indigenous Peoples are:

Article 3
Indigenous peoples have the right to self-determination. By virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development.

This article three is very important to Indigenous Peoples, as for many years' institutions, anthropologist, archeologists, museums and other dominant society institutions have tried to identify who we are, when we know who we are, our communities know who we are, and we do not need help from anyone to determine who we are.

Article 19
States shall consult and cooperate in good faith with the indigenous peoples concerned through their own representative institutions in order to obtain their free, prior and informed consent before adopting and implementing legislative or administrative measures that may affect them.

Any land use issue that has the potential of impacting Chumash Cultural or Environmental Resources must be discussed with the Chumash Community before any action is taken.  Meaningful Consultation with Native Americans is extremely important.

Article 31
1. Indigenous peoples have the right to maintain, control, protect and develop their cultural heritage, traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expressions, as well as the manifestations of their sciences, technologies and cultures, including human and genetic resources, seeds, medicines, knowledge of the properties of fauna and flora, oral traditions, literatures, designs, sports and traditional games, and visual and performing arts. They also have the right to maintain, control, protect, and develop their intellectual property over such cultural heritage, traditional knowledge, and traditional cultural expressions.

2. In conjunction with indigenous peoples, States shall take effective measures to recognize and protect the exercise of these rights.
Protecting our culture and heritage from commercialization is imperative for the preservation of Indigenous Peoples.

Last week NCTC and the Coastal Band of the Chumash Nation spoke in opposition to the seismic testing at the State Lands Commission hearings, where PG&E is proposing to do seismic testing along our central coast line, from Guadalupe to Cambria.  The Chumash are opposed to this testing because of the extreme danger and imminent death to mammals, fish and sea life along our coast line.  The possible destruction, to submerged Chumash Sacred Sites, and Chumash Cultural Resources with the anchoring of a very large vessel along our coastline. 

The possible death of dolphins is traumatic to the Chumash Peoples.  Many people all over the world know the Chumash Creation story "The Rainbow Bridge."  It is a part of who we are.   After all the California Native Americans have been through, the trauma of extinction at the hands of a dominant society once again raises its ugly head to cause great trauma to the Chumash people of today.  The Chumash Freedom of Religion is under attack, our rights to be equal and to stand with dignity are being abused. 

The Chumash people have the right to have meaningful input in the CEQA process and we were denied that process.   NCTC and the Chumash Nation will work to save our dolphins, whales, otters, seals, and all living things.  How can this possibly be happening today along our magnificent coastline?   I grew up hiking and playing where the power plant sits today. We used to fish, hunt, gather abalone, and camp in the very spot where the plant sits.  I have seen the destruction of my ancestor's village and home land. People need to wake up, or there will be nothing left for the future generations to come.

Chumash Elder - "As one takes care of the waters and oceans, so shall there life go.”

Banner Image Used Courtesy NCTC Northern Chumash Tribal Council