Big Valley Band of Pomo Indians Tribal Chairman Flaman McCloud Jr. (left) and State Parks Director Armando Quintero (right) examine a basket being repatriated to the tribe. Photo from California State Parks.
August 2, 2025 - McCLELLAN—California State Parks has repatriated cultural items to the Big Valley Band of Pomo Indians (Big Valley) that have now returned home.Big Valley and State Parks met to complete the repatriation of 21 baskets, regalia and other cultural items from the State Indian Museum State Historic Park on July 23. This repatriation was part of State Parks’ compliance with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA).
Big Valley Tribal Chairman Flaman McCloud Jr. and tribal members traveled to Sacramento to complete the repatriation and bring these cultural items back home to Lake County. For Big Valley, these cultural items are integral to Pomo culture, identity and connect the community to their ancestors.
“It is an honor to be able to bring home items that our ancestors have touched and held and put sweat and their life into creating,” said Chairman McCloud. “It is a real blessing to be able to do that because we never got to know these ancestors in person. Through our oral history we know who they are, when they were in our community, what they did, whether it is for our ceremonies or just in our families. It is an honor to be able to have these things come home, however long it took, whatever work was needed.”
About NAGPRA
The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, is a United States federal law that requires agencies and institutions to return Native American ancestors and cultural items to their rightful communities.Visit State Parks’ NAGPRA webpage for additional information.
“State Parks is committed to fulfilling our legal obligation under NAGPRA,” said State Parks Director Armando Quintero. “We are honored to be a part of the important repatriation process that returns ancestors and belongings to their homes and peoples. The State Parks NAGPRA program will continue this very important work until every Native American ancestor and cultural item has completed the NAGPRA process.”
Repatriated Items
Some of the repatriated items were obtained as early as 1880 by a private collector before being donated to State Parks, and others were purchased in 1960 by State Parks for display at the State Indian Museum State Historic Park (SIM). Until recently, some of these items were on display in the museum. This was the State Indian Museum’s first repatriation in over a decade. Like most museums with Native American collections nationwide, the SIM is in a moment of transition. To educate and inform the public, the SIM created a new exhibit, Welcomed Home: A Celebration, about NAGPRA that communicates the joy and empowerment of repatriation. The State Indian Museum was honored to work with Big Valley and assist with these belongings returning home.
Big Valley Chairman McCloud explained that these cultural items, “have a living spirit and they have been gone from their homeland for so long, that when they come home they are not going to recognize it… They know that it is their family they are coming home to. We are greeting them in the best way that we know how, we welcome them.” Big Valley Tribal Members and State Parks staff then bowed their heads while the Chairman sang prayer in Pomo over the items. For some of the cultural items, this was the first time they had heard their language in over a century.
Big Valley Tribal Chairman Flaman McCloud Jr. (in black dress shirt), State Parks Director Armando Quintero, and tribal members discuss items being repatriated. Photos from California State Parks.
About the Big Valley Band of Pomo Indians of the Big Valley Rancheria
The Big Valley Band of Pomo Indians is active in many programs and collaborates with local partners on projects that improve the health and well-being of the whole community. This includes an active Boys and Girls Club, an award-winning Xa-Ben-Na-Po 4H Club, a 10-year-strong Clear Lake cyanotoxin monitoring, a responsive Social Services Program, a Tribal Youth Education Collaborative for Pomo Education, and protection of the Clear Lake Hitch (Chi), among other things. For more information, please visit www.bvrancheria.com, https://www.facebook.com/bigvalleyrancheria, and https://www.facebook.com/ClearLakeWaterQuality.
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California State Parks provides for the health, inspiration and education of the people of California by helping to preserve the state’s extraordinary biological diversity, protecting its most valued natural and cultural resources, and creating opportunities for high quality outdoor recreation.
Source: CA. State Parks
