308 Acres Above the Foresthill Divide Return to the Colfax-Todds Valley Tribe
Placer Land Trust has transferred 308 acres near Foresthill, known in Nisenan as Hym hym hop', to the Colfax-Todds Valley Consolidated Tribe in its second Land Back project.
American River Canyon Alliance
Three hundred and eight acres above the Foresthill Divide are back in the hands of the people who named them.
In April 2026, Placer Land Trust transferred the parcel to the Colfax-Todds Valley Consolidated Tribe, made up of Nisenan, Maidu, and Miwok people of the Placer County foothills. The land sits near Foresthill in rural Placer County. In Nisenan it is called Hym hym hop'. The tribe marked the return with a dedication ceremony on April 22, 2026.
This is the Owl Creek Project, and it is the tribe's second Land Back transfer with the land trust. The first, 40 acres above the North Fork American River, closed in April 2022.
The funding came together from several sources. CAL FIRE's Forest Legacy Program provided $1.36 million. The California Council of Land Trusts added $20,000. The prior landowner discounted the sale by more than $200,000. As a condition of the CAL FIRE grant, Placer Land Trust holds a perpetual conservation easement on the land. It cannot be subdivided or developed, ever.
The tribe now owns and stewards the forest. Plans include forest health restoration and six acres set aside for a future tribal headquarters and stewardship operations center. Managed public access for recreation and education is expected in time. Tribal leaders say owning homeland strengthens their pursuit of federal recognition of the Colfax Rancheria.
For the American River country, this is conservation and homecoming in one act. Read the full announcement from Placer Land Trust.
Cover photo: Chris English, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.