California Indian Environmental Alliance (CIEA) was created in 2006 at the request of impacted California Tribal leadership and Tribal members to address the toxic legacy of mercury left over from the California Gold Rush. This toxicity divides community members from practicing fishing cultures wherein fish play an important cultural, spiritual, and nutritional role. 

The top two questions that families ask in order to avoid toxins remain the same: 1) which local fish and waters are safe to eat from for subsistence, and 2) how do we secure safe fishing locations?  To answer these questions, CIEA coordinates with agencies tasked with regulating water bodies and issuing fish consumption advisories. We provide technical support to California Tribes in order for each to address these issues locally on behalf of their People.

The Self-Advocacy program provides tools for Tribal leadership to advocate on their own behalf with the goal that Indian Nations are at the table whenever decisions are being made that affect traditional Tribal lands, resources, and Tribal members. One of CIEA’s guiding principles is that Indigenous Peoples have a right to eat traditional foods and set environmental cleanup standards for their cultural continuance. 

CIEA works in partnership with Tribes supporting over eighty (80) California Tribes to increase Tribal participation within the decision-making bodies that affect water quality and to identify strategies to address environmental destruction and resulting toxicity. Toxicity in CA waters divide Tribal families form tradtional foods, medicines and cultural ues deviding individuals from thier role as responsible stewards.