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National news
February 11, 2022 •The Week Junior
O
n January 25, a redwood forest in northern
California was reunited with the people
who originally lived there. The group will
serve as guardians of the forest as part of a
conservation project.
The 523-acre forest was inhabited for
thousands of years by Native American tribes.
They used the land for hunting, fi shing, and
ceremonies. But European American
settlers forced the tribes to leave
the area. For more than 175
years, tribal members have
been unable to go there. Most
recently, a family-run logging
business, which turns trees
into timber, owned the land.
Save the Redwoods League,
a nonprofi t organization, bought
the land from the logging family in- This week, the League offi cially
transferred ownership of the land to the
InterTribal Sinkyone Wilderness Council, a
group of 10 local Native tribes. Council leaders
said that tribal members are excited about the
return of sacred land.
The area used to be known as Andersonia
West and has now been renamed Tc’ih-Léh-
Dûñ (pronounced tsih-ih-LEY-duhn), which
means “Fish Run Place.” Renaming it in a
Native language lets people know “that
there was a people who lived there long
before now,” said Crista Ray, a leader of the
InterTribal Sinkyone Wilderness Council.
The Council will work with Save the
Redwoods League to protect the
forest—including the redwood
trees and endangered animals
that live there, such as northern
spotted owls, yellow-legged
frogs, and steelhead trout.
The Council already conserves
180,000 acres along the Sinkyone
coast, the region where Tc’ih-Léh-
Dûñ is located. Eventually, the Council
hopes to connect, repair, and expand
all the nearby redwood forests.
“It’s a real blessing,” said Priscilla Hunter,
chairwoman of the InterTribal Sinkyone
Wilderness Council, about the return of the land.
“It’s like a healing for our ancestors.”New telescope arrives in space
The world’s most powerful telescope, which was launched
into space on December 25, has arrived at its destination.
The James Webb Space Telescope is about 930,000 miles
away from Earth. NASA, the US space agency, oversaw
its launch with support from the European and Canadian
space agencies. It will spend 10 years sending images
back to Earth. Scientists hope the telescope can see further
into space and further back in time than ever before.Electric bikes rise in popularity
More Americans are buying electric bikes, new data
suggests. An electric bike has a motor that provides
power when pedaling. The US imported (brought in from
another country to sell) nearly 790,000 electric bikes in
2021, a major increase over the 463,000 bikes that were
imported in 2020. The jump in imports indicates that the
interest in using electric bikes may continue in 2022.Redwood forest returned to tribes
ON THIS PAGE: GETTY IMAGES (3); AP; NASA; ALEX HERR/NCRM INC.; ON LEFT PAGE: GETTY IMAGES (4)
The location of
the returned landThe forest in
CaliforniaWhite House welcomes pet cat
President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden have adopted
a 2-year-old gray tabby cat named Willow. She is the first
cat to move into the White House in about 30 years. The
First Lady met the cat at a Pennsylvania farm in 2020 and
named her for her hometown, Willow Grove, Pennsylvania.
Willow joins Commander, a German shepherd puppy
that came to the White House in December.THE WEEK’S SILLIEST HEADLINE
“Florida teacher has snowman mailed
to class from Kentucky” UPIWillowAn illustration
of the telescopeANCIENT
TREES
Redwood trees can
live for more than
2,000 years.CALIFORNIATc’ih-Léh-
Dûñ