Mission

The Nisenan Miwok Collective 501(c)(3) is the nonprofit arm of the Southern Hill Nisenan Tribal community. While the Southern Hill Nisenan Band represents the people, families, and cultural leadership of our tribe, the Collective serves as the operational entity advancing programs, partnerships, and funding strategies in support of our community. Our work is grounded in Land Back and rematriation efforts within the Southern Hill Nisenan ancestral territory, including El Dorado County, Plymouth, and the forks of the Cosumnes River—where our headsmen signed Treaty J in 1851. These efforts seek to restore Indigenous stewardship to lands unlawfully taken during the Gold Rush era, where our people experienced state-sanctioned violence, displacement, and dispossession. Through land return, conservation partnerships, and strategic acquisition, we are working to reestablish a permanent Southern Hill Nisenan presence at culturally significant village sites and landscapes. This includes restoring traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) practices, protecting sacred sites, revitalizing native food systems, and stewarding watersheds in alignment with our ancestral responsibilities. The Nisenan Miwok Collective advances these efforts through land and water restoration, food sovereignty, cultural revitalization, and community-based economic development—ensuring that the leadership, knowledge, and sovereignty of the Southern Hill Nisenan people guide the long-term care and protection of our homelands.