We Join the Global “Hands Off” Movement
Coastal Band members have joined the millions of people protesting across the world during the “Hands Off” rallies. We are fighting to protect our lands and waters—a responsibilities that is deeply rooted in who we are.
During the Trump administration, our efforts to care for these places has become much harder. Federal policies are being rewritten to serve corporations, not communities. Laws that once gave us a voice in decisions about our homelands are gutted. These changes don’t just threaten the environment—they threaten our sovereignty, our sacred sites, and the health of our people.
Our Sovereignty Pushed Aside
When Trump weakens the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), we lose one of the few legal tools we have to demand consultation. Projects like pipelines, oil wells, highways, and developments begin moving forward without respecting our right to be heard.
This means we face even greater barriers in protecting our coastline from offshore drilling and other forms of extractive industry. Our ability to stop harm before it happens—to speak for the land, the water, the ancestors—is silenced.
Our Waters Put at Risk
The rollback of the Clean Water Rule removes protections for many of the streams, wetlands, and estuaries we depend on. These waters are more than ecosystems—they are our drinking water, our food systems, our medicine, our prayers.
At the same time, the Trump administration lifts limits on methane emissions and other pollutants. This increases the risk of illness in Native communities like ours—communities already overburdened by environmental hazards. Every rollback puts our health, and the health of future generations, in jeopardy.
We Keep Protecting What’s Ours
Despite these attacks, we keep showing up for our relatives—human and more-than-human alike. We continue our work to establish the Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary, a protected area that would stretch across more than 7,000 square miles of ocean along our ancestral coastline.
The sanctuary would safeguard sacred sites, protect marine life, and affirm our role as original stewards of these waters. Under Trump, progress on this proposal stalls. But we don’t stop. We organize, educate, and advocate. Today, with growing public support, the dream of the sanctuary moves closer to reality.
We Are the Water
As our elders teach us: We are the water. When the tides are poisoned, when the kelp forests fade, when oil drills threaten the coast, it’s not just the environment that suffers—it’s us. Our stories, our songs, our responsibilities are written into this land and sea.
Trump’s environmental rollbacks may leave lasting harm, but they don’t break our commitment. We have always protected these places, and we always will.
