21.55.020 Legislative findings.
The Yurok Tribal Council hereby finds and declares that:
(a) The Creator set forth the laws by which the Yurok people are instructed to interact and care for our natural world, including but not limited to plants and animals that we use for food, medicine, and materials;
(b) Addressing the negative impacts of invasion and attempted colonization for the Yurok people requires preserving, protecting, and restoring lands, waters, plants and animals, sacred places, and the health and well-being of our families and villages;
(c) These sacred elements and honoring our relationship with the Yurok World are necessary to restore practices handed down to us and to sustain our food sovereignty and our spiritual, cultural, physical, social, and environmental health, identity, and survival;
(1) The Tribe adopted a Constitution to:
(A) Uphold, preserve, and protect our Tribe and our sovereignty;
(B) Provide for the health, education, economy, and social well-being of our members and future members; and
(C) Restore, enhance, and manage the Tribal fishery, Tribal water rights, Tribal forests, and all other natural resources;
(d) Protecting our traditional salmon and other foods, plants, animals, materials, resources, and methods from threats is essential for our survival and at the core of our responsibilities;
(e) It is the inherent sovereign right and responsibility of the Yurok people to maintain a healthy relationship with the Yurok World and its sacred elements and to exercise responsible stewardship over natural resources; and
(f) Activities in waters or wetlands may impair their beneficial uses and potentially impose a public nuisance and hazard jeopardizing the health, safety, and welfare of persons, property, and the environment.
(g) This chapter does not address discharges of pollutants that do not qualify as discharges of dredged or fill material into wetlands or waters of the Reservation because such discharges of pollutants already are regulated under the Tribe’s Water Pollution Control Code (Chapter 21.20 YTC). [Ord. 67 § 5002, adopted, 5/21/2020.]