Yulića
Homeland Return
The Homeland Return Campaign is HUṠWEJ’s largest and most transformative initiative to date. In partnership with the Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribe, the campaign secured the purchase and transfer of the former Woolman property to Tribal Stewardship after a year-long process of negotiation, advocacy, and community mobilization.
For the first time since the Tribe’s illegal termination in 1964, the Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan once again have a land base – a place to live, gather, hold ceremony, and rebuild relationship with the earth in their Ancestral Homelands.
This achievement demonstrates the power of collective action and shared responsibility. More than 3,600 donations from across the country contributed over $2.5 million, enabling escrow to close in September 2024.
Beyond its local impact, Homeland Return stands as a national model for ethical land transition, demonstrating what is possible when local communities, allies, and Indigenous Tribes unite in the spirit of reciprocity and repair.
Yulića: Ethical Land Transition
The land, which has now reclaimed its original name of Yulića, was once a thriving Nisenan village. It was a center of ceremony, trade, and healing for the Nisenan before the colonization and California gold rush devastated the Tribe’s population, language, and land base.
For centuries, the Nisenan have held memory of this place in oral histories, stories, and prayer, maintaining connection despite being forced from their Ancestral Homelands.
In the mid-20th century, the property became home to the John Woolman School, operated by the College Park Friends Educational Association (CPFEA), a Quaker community grounded in peace, justice, and sustainability. Post COVID-19 and the 2023 Jones Fire, Woolman decided to discontinue their programming and sought to transition the land in a way consistent with its values. Guided by the belief that “the land is sacred,” Woolman’s Board reached out to HUṠWEJ to explore the possibility of returning stewardship to the Original Peoples of the land.
What followed was an unprecedented partnership. Facilitators from the Center for Ethical Land Transition and the Pacific Yearly Meeting of Quakers helped guide a relationship-centered negotiation process that prioritized trust, transparency, and repair while respectfully navigating the historic Cultural complexities of the land purchase .
Homeland Return Campaign
At the same time, HUṠWEJ and the NCR Nisenan Tribe launched an ambitious grassroots fundraising campaign to make the dream of Homeland Return a reality. Within weeks, the effort galvanized local residents, artists, activists, and community partners in an astounding show of solidarity.
During the height of the campaign, allies participated in collaborative meetings with HUṠWEJ to brainstorm ways to support the effort, hosted independent fundraising events, and spread awareness through their individual networks. These grassroots actions were amplified by HUṠWEJ’s outreach to foundations, many of which honored dollar-for-dollar matching opportunities.
What began as a call to raise $1.4 million within ten weeks became a movement. Contributions flowed in from across the foothills, the state, and the nation – culminating in more than $2.5 million raised and proving that community commitment to justice, reciprocity, and Indigenous visibility can overcome even the steepest odds.
“If you didn’t know about land rematriation and the social justice work going on behind the scenes, it could look like just another real estate transaction.
When we started the process, the doubt was palpable: some didn’t think we could raise the money on the tight timeline that was set forth by CPFEA. The speed at which we met our fundraising goal gave power to our conviction and it felt like the odds were for once in our favor.
The purchase price was under market value and in the end, the CPFEA also contributed $200k as a concession to support the mitigation of the ancient septic system and fire access mandates.
What seemed mundane on the surface, was actually partnership and historic repair.
For the Tribe, the reconnection to home place was and is immeasurable. This is where the word “rematriation” feels most accurate.””
Tribal Protocols vs Colonial Paradigms
Yet the process was not without challenge. The discovery phase revealed significant infrastructure issues and compliance hurdles, and the Tribe’s Cultural protocols and priorities often diverged from county codes and state permitting processes. Balancing these western bureaucratic realities with the deeper responsibility of land rematriation required patience, advocacy, and collaboration at every step.
Despite these obstacles, HUṠWEJ and the Tribe remained steadfast, guided by the shared belief that returning Yulića to Nisenan stewardship was not only possible, but necessary. The process redefined what partnership can look like – serving as a model of repair through relationship and community action.
The Homeland Return journey illuminated the tensions that arise when Indigenous protocols meet Western systems of governance. From county zoning to environmental compliance, each stage of negotiation revealed how rigid regulatory frameworks often fail to account for Indigenous worldviews that see the Earth as living kin, not commodity.
For the Nisenan, caring for the land is an act of kinship, ceremony, and Cultural continuity. Yet, many of the Tribe’s priorities – such as restoring meadows, protecting seasonal creeks, or housing Elders in community – did not neatly fit within state and county codes. Rather than yield to these constraints, HUṠWEJ and the Tribe engaged local officials in dialogue, inviting them to expand their understanding of stewardship.
These ongoing negotiations represented a microcosm of the broader movement to reconcile Indigenous and colonial paradigms. Each meeting, inspection, and plan review became an opportunity to educate, challenge assumptions, and bridge the gap between Indigenous ecological knowledge and contemporary Western policies. Through patience, advocacy, and community support, the Homeland Return continues to demonstrate that coexistence and collaboration can create pathways toward shared healing.
Vision for Yulića
Now that the title to the land has transferred, the work of restoration – both ecological and Cultural – has truly begun.
For the Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribe, Yulića represents the possibility of once again living in right relationship with their Ancestral Homelands. The Tribe’s vision is rooted in the principle of True Conservation, a philosophy that departs from the Western ideal of untouched wilderness and instead honors humans as part of the ecosystem – caretakers, kin, and stewards in reciprocal relationship with the Earth.
At Yulića, the Tribe envisions a thriving, living community that embodies Nisenan values of balance, remembrance, and revitalization. The land will serve as both home and classroom, where Cultural knowledge and environmental healing move hand in hand. Immediate priorities focus on stabilizing housing for Tribal Elders and families, restoring the landscape from mining and fire damage, and tending to the waterways, meadows, and forests that hold memory of millennia of human care.
Progress Since Closing
Since escrow closed in September 2024, tangible and inspiring progress has taken root at Yulica.
Six Tribal families now live on the land, forming the first Nisenan residential community on Ancestral Homelands in more than half a century
Extensive infrastructure improvements have created safe and sustainable living conditions, including a new septic system, road repairs, HVAC and electrical upgrades, and climate-resilient home renovations
A new Elders and Leaders gathering space is under development, offering a central place for meetings, ceremonies, and the creation of a Tribal Community Protocols document
The Tribally-Guided Stewardship Crew has launched restoration projects addressing fire, mining, and habitat damage, while building partnerships with local and regional fire and conservation organizations
Youth and Elder gatherings have begun, sharing stories, language, and plant medicine knowledge, supporting Cultural connection between generations and the land itself.
Looking Ahead
The Tribe’s long-term vision for Yulića builds upon this foundation of renewal, where Indigenous wisdom and modern sustainability converge:
Community and Housing: Expand Elder and family housing to welcome more Tribal members home and provide intergenerational stability rooted in community care
Healing and Wellness: Establish a Tribal Wellness Center that integrates traditional medicine, Cultural healing, and community-based health practices
Culture and Creative Expression: Create a Youth Media Arts Center and expand ceremonial, arts and Cultural spaces for workshops, storytelling and performance
Food and Sovereignty: Develop a Tribal Garden and Food Sovereignty Program to grow ancestral foods and medicinal plants, supporting both wellness and self-sufficiency
Stewardship and Sustainability: Continue the work of the Land Stewardship Crew to restore forests, waterways, and meadows, blending Traditional Ecological Knowledge with contemporary forest management best-practices.
Community Infrastructure: Upgrade utilities, the commercial kitchen, and shared spaces to support Tribal small businesses, Cultural gatherings, and visiting community partners
Each of these efforts moves the Tribe closer to its vision of self-sustaining, intergenerational Homeland where Nisenan people live, create, and thrive in balance with the land that has always sustained them.
A Collective Effort for Healing and Justice
Homeland Return is far more than a single act of land purchase – it is a story of relationship, repair, and restoration. The rematriation of Yulića stands as a powerful example of what can be achieved when Indigenous leadership and community solidarity move together with shared purpose.
Through the dedication of HUṠWEJ, the Nevada City Rancheira Nisenan Tribe, the Quaker community, and thousands of donors and allies, Yulića has become a beacon of what justice and reciprocity can look like in practice.
This collaborative effort redefines what it means to care for the land: not in ownership, but as kinship; not as transactional, but as an ongoing relationship based in responsibility and respect.
As HUṠWEJ and the NCR Nisenan Tribe continue to restore Yulića, we invite partners, neighbors, and allies to walk alongside us in shaping a future where the wellbeing of land, people, and Culture are once again inseparable.
Through rematriation, Yulića is becoming what it has always been meant to be – a place of return, healing, and continuation of life.
“Securing the land is only the first step in the process of rematriation. It wasn’t until we had Yulića that we could begin seriously considering what long-term sustainability would require. Funding is a necessity at every stage.
The Tribe’s relationship with money is complicated for many historical reasons, but we know that sustainable funding is essential to the ongoing wellbeing of the Nevada City Rancheria Tribal membership and our relationship with this land. The old ways of stewarding land were disrupted by colonization, and many modern systems of property ownership run counter to Indigenous ways of being.
Perhaps because our Tribe has never been fully assimilated, navigating money and economic systems continues to be a new horizon to forge. We do not want to exist in a perpetual state of fundraising. Instead, we are working toward Tribal businesses and other forms of economic development that allow us to remain sovereign in our traditional ways of existing.
At the same time, it is deeply encouraging to know that as future fundraising phases are needed, our community is standing beside us, ready to support this work.”