Chah-pekw O' Ket'-toh "Stone Lagoon" Visitor Center

09/03/2025

09/03/2025

📢 NEW VISITOR CENTER HOURS!

The Chah-pekw O’ Ket’-toh Visitor Center is now open Tuesday–Saturday, 9 AM–4 PM. We hope to see you soon!

08/28/2025

POP-UP PROGRAM!

Join interpreters from the Yurok Tribe and California State Parks tomorrow, Friday, August 29th from 1:00-2:30 at the Stone Lagoon Visitor Center to learn about Yurok people’s connections to the coast and to create a fun craft to take home!

We will have six 15-minute rotations. Ideal group size per rotation is four participants due to limited materials and space. We hope to see you there!

08/26/2025

Join the Yurok Tribe and Western Rivers Conservancy at the Blue Creek Celebration on Thursday, Sept. 4 from 3-6:30pm at Redwood RV Park (145 Alder Camp Road). The event will include speeches and a BBQ dinner on the banks of the Klamath River.

The Yurok Tribe and WRC are celebrating the culmination of the largest “land back” conservation project in California history. Seventy-three square miles of land along the eastern side of the lower Klamath River are now owned and managed by the Yurok Tribe as the Blue Creek Salmon Sanctuary and Yurok Tribal Community Forest. Establishing Tribal ownership safeguards the long-term health of this critical ecosystem and culturally significant sites along the Klamath, which is home to one of the most important fall Chinook salmon runs on the West Coast. The conveyance of these lands to the Tribe by the Western Rivers Conservancy has been more than 20 years in the making, and more than doubled the Tribe’s land holdings.

For more information about the conservation project - https://www.yuroktribe.org/post/largest-ever-land-back-conservation-deal-in-california-now-complete

08/23/2025

Hello everyone!

We hope summer has treated you (s)well! 🌊

As summer turns to fall, I hope you keep eyes and ears peeled to the skies! California is apart of what's called the Pacific Flyway, meaning migratory birds come through the North Coast. Hundreds of birds that come through the lagoons for rest stops or even start families! 🪹🪺

Hope this many birds won't be too much for you to swallow 🐦! 🥁🥁🪘

[Photo description: Birds in flight above hills and sea, silhouetted by the sun]

08/03/2025

These barn swallows have made themselves right at home on our Ring camera—who needs surveillance when you’ve got security like this? 👀🐦

Fun fact: Barn swallows are long-distance migratory birds. Stone Lagoon is a stop along the Pacific Flyway and home to over 200 resident and migratory bird species.

Come say hello to our little friends in person! 👋🏼

08/02/2025

🍓 Cultural Pathways to a Healthy Lifestyle

For Yurok people, berries are an essential traditional food and a staple in both traditional and modern diets. Nourishing and delicious, they’ve been gathered in baskets every summertime for generations—eaten fresh or dried over the fire or in the sun to be stored for later. Today, berries are made into pies, jams, and other tasty treats!

Some of the most commonly gathered berries across Yurok ancestral territory include:

• kweys-cheen (strawberry)
• ley-chehl (blackberry)
• ta’-a-mo’ ‘wer-nerh (elderberry)
• ‘err-wern (salmonberry)
• cheee-gery (huckleberry)

Gathering berries is not only a healthy, outdoor activity but also a cultural tradition that strengthens Indigenous ecological knowledge, connects families to the land and to each other, and supports food sovereignty—the right of Indigenous peoples to define their own food systems and access healthy, traditional foods grown sustainably.

Berries truly are one of the best parts of summer! 🌿✨

Want to learn more about traditional Yurok foods and harvesting practices?
📍 Visit the Stone Lagoon Visitor Center!

What’s your favorite berry? Share with us in the comments!

[Image description: Poster showing the English and Yurok names for five types of berries, each with a photo next to its name.]

07/30/2025

⚠️ The Chah-pekw O' Ket'-toh Visitor Center will be closed today 07/30 due to a tsunami warning, in order to ensure the safety of our staff and visitors.

Please take all necessary precautions and stay safe.

We’ll share updates as we learn more and hope to reopen soon.

Thank you for your understanding.

07/17/2025

07/17/2025

Are you interested in helping implement Yurok cultural activities? Yurok Tribe Child Welfare is seeking cultural mentors and facilitators to lead classes ranging from basket weaving and gathering to hunting and fishing to parent education.

Please see the flyer for details. Submit your proposal to Dorothy Sylvia ([email protected]) by September 1.