Keeping the Beat of Our Ancestors’ Hearts
WHO WE ARE
The Alliance for Felix Cove advocates for the protection and restoration of the only remaining 19th century Tomalko (Coast Miwok Tomales Bay)-built home at Point Reyes National Seashore.
The Alliance aims to re-indigenize the ancestral homelands of the Felix Family—the last Tomalko family to live on the western shores of Tomales Bay at Felix Cove known as Laird’s Landing.
Tamal-liwa: Welcoming Our Relative Home
Tamal-liwa: Welcoming Our Relative Home tells the story of a Támal-ko/Coast Miwok family's return to Tamal-liwa by inviting local communities to build a tule canoe in honor of the Felix Family and other Támal-ko families whose homelands are now called Point Reyes National Seashore.
Video production by Hewitt Visuals
The Spirit of Living with Mother Earth
Reawakening Indigenous Lifeways for Future Generations
It’s been well over two centuries since the waters of Tamal-liwa, now known as Tomales Bay, were dotted with tule canoes traditionally made by Támal-ko people. But last fall, a brand new tule canoe set out on Tamal-liwa–one made entirely by a group of young people learning the ancestral practices of the Támal-ko.
Support the restoring of Coast Miwok/Tamal-ko history
As the movement to return Indigenous lands into Indigenous hands continues to grow, in Northern California, the Alliance for Felix Cove is fighting to protect, restore and rematriate the ancestral homelands of the Coast Miwok/Tamal-ko Felix Family.
Donate today in support of restoring Coast Miwok/Tamal-ko history and to save the Felix Family home and ancestral land so that future generations can walk in the footsteps of our Tamal-ko ancestors at Tamal-liwa. Wali ka molis.
2022 Anthony Prize Winner
Rose Foundation for Communities and the Environment announced Founder and Executive Director of the Alliance for Felix Cove, Theresa Harlan, as the winner of the 2022 Anthony Grassroots Prize, an annual $1,000 award recognizing an outstanding example of inspirational grassroots environmental activism.
Theresa Harlan at Felix Cove in Pt. Reyes National Seashore on April 20, 2021. (Photo by Jocelyn Knight)
CALL TO ACTION FOR PUBLIC COMMENT
Tomales Bay State Park Forest Health and Wildfire Resilience Public Works Plan (PWP-2-MAR-24-0001-1)
Why would the Park propose utilizing Western treatment methodologies such as fossil fueled heavy equipment to masticate trees and shrubs or herbicides for restoration? Because Indigenous ecologists are not invited to the table to add Indigenous-based solutions. Public comment is scheduled for Coastal Commission action on Friday, March 15, 2024. Make your voice heard and oppose the use of the PWP proposed activities!
Celebrating the Return of Indigenous Land to Indigenous Hands Across Northern California
The return of Indigenous land into Indigenous hands is always a significant and powerful step toward justice. And we are overjoyed that Indigenous people and communities across Northern California are now successfully reclaiming access to their traditional homelands – to protect for future generations.
Coming Home to the Cove
A Story of Family, Memory, and Stolen Land
an Emergence Magazine Production
Episode 3 of 3
Spanish missions, boarding schools, and ranching empires drove many Coast Miwok people from their ancestral land in Northern California, targeting the erasure of their history and identity. As the Point Reyes National Seashore deliberates the fate of the last standing Coast Miwok structures on Tomales Bay, on a homestead built by Theresa Harlan’s family, she continues her grassroots efforts to involve the wider community in protecting them.
OUR FOCUS
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Share the Story
At least four generations of the Tomalko (Coast Miwok Tomales Bay) Felix Family are known to have lived at Felix Cove. We want to share that story with the world.
Photographs courtesy © Jocelyn Knight
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Connect
We have a passion for gathering Indigenous peoples together who work to re-Indigenize ancestral lands held as public and private lands.
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Community
We are building strategic alliances with Indigenous traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) organizations, environmental and climate justice organizations.
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Grow the Cause
We aim to be a catalyst for the creation of the Felix Family Historical District, a Felix Family living history center and Indigenous plant garden at Point Reyes National Seashore.
Acknowledgement to Our Ancestors
The Felix Family descend from Coast Miwok, Tomalko people of Tamal-liwa, Tomales Bay. For generations since time immemorial, our ancestors lived on Tamal-liwa, harvesting foods and living among the relatives. We thank the ancestors for bringing us life and shaping the world they gifted to us.
Pictured to the Left: Bertha Campigli and her cow Babe. photo credit: Felix Family Archive
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