On February 26, Joanne Kittel, View the Future co-chair, made a presentation to the Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide (ELAW), a Eugene-based organization. ELAW hosted more than 100 environmental advocates from 40 countries that included a field trip to Yachats. Joanne spoke about the early Indigenous history of the Yachats coastland and the 804 Trail.
The 804 trail, (which was once a pioneer road) was also a crowded site for summer homes for the Yaxaik People for many thousands of years. These sites extended south all the way to Cummins Creek. The sites were continuously occupied, despite major earthquakes and tsunamis, but the Yaxaik people were wiped out by Euro-American diseases. Joanne also spoke about the more recent history of how advocates fought to keep the 804 road easements public to allow for the development of trails along the coast, popular with local residents and visitors.
