The Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary: An interview with Violet Sage Walker

Chumash-For more than 40 years, California's coastal Indigenous People, community members, and elected leaders have advocated for the establishment of a new national marine sanctuary. In 2015, Northern Chumash Tribal Council chair, Chief Fred Collins, officially nominated Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's public nominations process. The larger mammals, bison, deer, elk, bear, and wolves were next. Due to a slew of human-related factors- lead poisoning, habitat destruction, pollution, and hunting-by 1982, only 22 condors were left in the wild and only 2 were left in captivity.