Historic Memorandum of Understanding
Representatives from tribes, state and local governments pose along the shore of Clear Lake after formally signing a historic co-management agreement to improve the health of Clear Lake and the threatened Clear Lake hitch.
Tribal, state, and local governments gathered at Big Valley Rancheria on Friday, September 11, to announce a landmark partnership to restore the Clear Lake watershed through shared stewardship of its lands, waters, and native species. Together, the partners will improve water quality, restore habitat, strengthen native fish populations, and support healthier ecosystems for future generations. One of the biggest agreements of its kind, this is California’s first watershed co-management agreement since the passage of AB 1284 (Ramos, 2024) and the state launched its Tribal Stewardship Policy in March.
“This partnership is unique – it brings together communities and purposes that have traditionally been disparate, if not oppositional, and finds common ground where it matters most: the lake itself,” said Governor Gavin Newsom. “There are different histories, different meanings, but it’s the same water. A healthier Clear Lake means stronger, healthier communities, no matter what role the lake plays in their lives, whether it’s a cultural touchstone, an economic engine, a social anchor, or an ecological lifeline.”
Clear Lake sits at the heart of the ancestral homelands of Pomo and Lake Miwok peoples, where generations of leadership and Traditional Ecological Knowledge have stewarded the watershed since time immemorial.
“The Habematolel Pomo of Upper Lake’s home is the Clear Lake watershed. Our tribal community has never stopped caring for these lands and waters, even through generations of hardship. This agreement honors that enduring connection and reaffirms our role as a sovereign partner in restoring the health of the watershed and the Clear Lake hitch”, said Habematolel Pomo of Upper Lake, Chairperson Executive Council, Daniel Cirell. “We remain committed to working alongside our tribal, state and local partners, and to being good neighbors to the entire Clear Lake community, as we carry this work forward for future generations.”
“This landmark partnership ties in perfectly with the California Conservation Corps’ mission to protect and enhance our state’s natural resources and communities. Partnering with California Native American tribes around Clear Lake profoundly deepens that commitment. Corpsmembers will work alongside tribal partners and directly learn from tribes how they have sustained their lands for generations. By supporting restoration priorities involving the Clear Lake Hitch, and working with tribes exploring their own tribal corps, we’re developing the next generation of stewards, supporting our tribal partners, and helping protect a threatened species.”
Since the disruption of this critical tribal stewardship, the Clear Lake watershed has experienced declining water quality, degraded wetlands, habitat loss, and the decline of native species, including the threatened Chi (Ṣátti), also known as the Clear Lake hitch.
“Healthy people need healthy watersheds,” said California Natural Resources Secretary Wade Crowfoot. “Our rivers, lakes and landscapes provide our clean drinking water as well as the water our communities and economy need to prosper. These water systems are also vital to fish and wildlife, enabling well-loved recreation. California state government is proud to join tribes and local governments to establish this historic partnership to restore the vital Clear Lake watershed. This landmark agreement demonstrates how shared stewardship – guided by thousands of years of tribal expertise and leadership – strengthens both conservation and our communities.”
This partnership builds on years of hard work and collaboration to address historical wrongs and environmental harms, prevent the extinction of the Chi, and rehabilitate the natural resources, cultural, social, and economic conditions of Clear Lake. It reflects a commitment to deepen and further institutionalize mutual respect, shared responsibility, and long-term relationships, bringing together 23 government parties under a shared framework to steward one of California’s oldest and most culturally significant freshwater ecosystems. And it puts tribal leadership back in the driver’s seat for Clear Lake – a landmark moment for the region as it works to restore the watershed.
“The future of Clear Lake cannot be separated from the tribes who have cared for it since time immemorial, or from the communities that depend on it today,” said California Environmental Protection Agency Secretary Yana Garcia. “Clear Lake is more than a body of water. It is home, history, culture, and a living connection between generations. This agreement honors that relationship and brings Tribal governments and local and state partners together to do the hard work of improving the health of the watershed and supporting the recovery of the Chi for generations to come.”
Sacramento Center
In 2026, crews from the CCC Sacramento Center treated riparian corridors along Scotts Creek and Manning Creek. The goal is to improve fish passage and spawning habitat for the Clear Lake Hitch. The project is a collaboration with the California Department of Fish & Wildlife, and area partners.
In addition to signing this historic agreement, the Blue Ribbon Committee for the Rehabilitation of Clear Lake, a committee housed in the California Natural Resources Agency, today celebrates the groundbreaking of the University of California, Davis Hypolimnetic Oxygenation System in the Oaks Arm of Clear Lake and BlueCycle Technologies’ and the City of Clearlake’s Algae Harvesting Demonstration Project.
The Hypolimnetic Oxygenation System adds oxygen into the deep waters of the Lake to target current conditions that repeatedly lead to harmful algal blooms that thrive in low oxygen and high phosphorus waters. Harmful algal blooms threaten public health, wildlife, and recreation. The Algae Harvesting Demonstration Project provides an innovative physical algae-harvesting and resource-recovery approach to remove the harmful algal blooms and return clarified oxygenated water back into Clear Lake. This serves as a study to evaluate pathways for beneficial reuse of the algal blooms and to inform potential lake-wide deployment of similar technology. These projects build on a broader foundation funded by CNRA through its Blue Ribbon Committee for the Rehabilitation of Clear Lake, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, the state and Regional Water Boards, and many other tribal, federal, state, and local initiatives with the goal of improving the water quality in Clear Lake.
The Committee has focused on reducing harmful algal blooms while advancing a broader approach to restoring Clear Lake. At the celebration, partners highlighted several Committee-recommended projects, including a EutroPHIX project to reduce phosphorus and harmful algae, long-term Chi monitoring led by the U.S. Geological Survey, community-led grebe monitoring sponsored by Pacific Union College, and local engineering work to address longstanding water quality issues in the Clear Lake Keys.
Solano Center
In 2023, Corpsmembers on the CCC Solano Center Forestry Corps crew worked at various sites in Lake County reducing vegetation in creeks and tributaries to improve habitat for the hitch. Using chainsaws, polesaws, and hedgers crews helped open up channels by removing overgrown brush and trees.
How It Works
Co-management is a shared approach to stewardship in which governments work together to make decisions, coordinate actions, and care for lands and waters. Through annual work plans, leadership summits, coordinated restoration projects, and shared decision-making, the partners will align priorities, improve communication, reduce duplication, and strengthen stewardship across the watershed. What makes this different is the scale. Rather than focusing on a single property or restoration project, Tribal, state, and local governments are establishing a shared approach to restoring and stewarding an entire watershed.
As the first watershed agreement developed under California’s Tribal Stewardship Policy, this partnership establishes a framework for future co-management agreements rooted in tribal leadership, shared stewardship, and government-to-government collaboration.
Mendocino Center
Through funding from Proposition 68 and Senate Bill 901, Mendocino Center Corpsmembers have completed a number of Clear Lake Hitch related projects in the last three years. Crews completed work in Clover Creek, Old Clover Creek, and Alley Creek to improve fish passage and spawning habitat for the Clear Lake Hitch. Additional project work brought Corpsmembers to Cole Creek and Scotts Creek.
Government Partners
Tribal Governments
- Habematolel Pomo of Upper Lake
- Robinson Rancheria of Pomo Indians of California
- Big Valley Band of Pomo Indians
- Middletown Rancheria of Pomo Indians of California
- Scotts Valley Band of Pomo Indians
- Elem Indian Colony
- Koi Nation of Northern California
Local Governments
- City of Clear Lake
- City of Lakeport
- County of Lake
- Lake County Watershed Protection District
State Government Agencies
- California Natural Resources Agency
- California Environmental Protection Agency
- California Conservation Corps
- California Department of Fish and Wildlife
- California Department of Parks and Recreation
- California State Lands Commission
- California State Water Resources Control Board
- Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board
- Department of Pesticide Regulation
- Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery
- Department of Toxic Substances Control
- Office of Environmental Health and Hazard Assessment
