Qualla: The Valley That Drowned https://qualla.com/coyote-valley-reservation en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:11 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/9/q/b/r/coyote-valley-reservation-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: The Valley That Drowned https://qualla.com/coyote-valley-reservation The Valley That Drowned: Introduction https://qualla.com/coyote-valley-reservation/ Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. Somewhere beneath the surface of Lake Mendocino lies the place where the Coyote Valley Band of Pomo Indians once lived. The Coyote Dam, completed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, flooded their rancheria and forced the Shodakai Pomo to move a few miles northwest to a new 70-acre reservation in Redwood Valley, California. It was not the first displacement the Pomo had endured, and it would not be the last indignity. But what makes the Coyote Valley story worth telling is not the loss -- it is what happened after. On a modest patch of land in Mendocino County, roughly 170 tribal members have built something that defies the scale of what was taken from them.

Read more: The Valley That Drowned on Qualla

Image: Unknown author | Public domain

]]> Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/q/b/r/coyote-valley-reservation-wp/9qbr-the-valley-that-drowned-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full The Valley That Drowned: People of the Valleys https://qualla.com/coyote-valley-reservation/ Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. The Coyote Valley tribe descends from the Shodakai Pomo, one of the many bands of the Pomo people who inhabited the valleys, lakeshores, and coastal areas of what is now Mendocino and Lake Counties for thousands of years before European contact. The Pomo were not a single nation ...

Read more: The Valley That Drowned on Qualla

Image: Unknown author | Public domain

]]> Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/q/b/r/coyote-valley-reservation-wp/9qbr-the-valley-that-drowned-people-of-the-valleys.mp3 0:06 2 full The Valley That Drowned: Seventy Acres and a Fresh Start https://qualla.com/coyote-valley-reservation/ Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. The current Coyote Valley Reservation sits along the eastern edge of Redwood Valley, a small community about seven miles north of Ukiah. At 70 acres, it is not large -- you could walk its perimeter in under an hour. The tribe operates the Coyote Valley Shodakai Casino on the rese...

Read more: The Valley That Drowned on Qualla

Image: Unknown author | Public domain

]]> Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/q/b/r/coyote-valley-reservation-wp/9qbr-the-valley-that-drowned-seventy-acres-and-a-fresh-start.mp3 0:06 3 full The Valley That Drowned: Guardians of the Sinkyone https://qualla.com/coyote-valley-reservation/ Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. The Coyote Valley Band is a member of the InterTribal Sinkyone Wilderness Council, a consortium of ten federally recognized tribes in Mendocino and Lake Counties that has worked since 1986 to protect lands of cultural importance along California's North Coast. The council operate...

Read more: The Valley That Drowned on Qualla

Image: Unknown author | Public domain

]]> Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/q/b/r/coyote-valley-reservation-wp/9qbr-the-valley-that-drowned-guardians-of-the-sinkyone.mp3 0:06 4 full The Valley That Drowned: What the Water Remembers https://qualla.com/coyote-valley-reservation/ Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. Lake Mendocino is a popular recreation spot today. Boaters and fishers enjoy its waters without much thought for what lies beneath. But for the Coyote Valley Pomo, the lake is a reminder of how easily a homeland can be erased by policy -- and how tenaciously a people can refuse t...

Read more: The Valley That Drowned on Qualla

Image: Unknown author | Public domain

]]> Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/q/b/r/coyote-valley-reservation-wp/9qbr-the-valley-that-drowned-what-the-water-remembers.mp3 0:06 5 full