Renaming of Park Features

Del Norte County and Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park

New Trail in Ancestral Territory of Tolowa People and Renaming of Peacock Bar

Representatives of the multiple partners involved in the creation of the new Xaa-yuu-chit Tes-dvm Trail. 

The Tolowa Dee-ni' Nation (Nation) and Redwood National and State Parks recently announced the completion of a new trail in Del Norte County, as well as the renaming of Peacock Bar in Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park.

The new trail is named Xaa-yuu-chit Tes-dvm, which translates to "High-Status-Stream/River Trail." The community of Hiouchi lies within Tolowa Dee-ni' ancestral territory. The name Hiouchi is an anglicized version of the Tolowa word Xaa-yuu-chit. The trail is just under 1 mile, beginning in Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park and ending near the fire station in Hiouchi. Unlike other trails in Redwood and National State Parks, this trail is pet-, bicycle- and pedestrian-friendly.

The planning and construction of the Xaa-yuu-chit Tes-dvm Trail was a collaborative effort between State Parks and the Tolowa Dee-ni' Nation. This trail was the first project of the Nation's newly established Tribal Resources Field Crew. The Tolowa Dee-ni' Nation looks forward to future partnerships with local, state and federal agencies and opportunities for the field crew to implement projects in its ancestral territory.

Redwood National and State Parks and the Tolowa Dee-ni’ Nation also collaborated to rename Peacock Bar. In 2019, the Governor of California established the Truth and Healing Council in an effort to reexamine the historical relationship between the State and Indigenous People. As a result, on Sept. 25, 2020, California Natural Resources Secretary Wade Crowfoot, State Parks Director Armando Quintero and Caltrans Director Toks Omishakin announced a series of actions to identify and redress discriminatory names of features attached to the state park and transportation systems. With the support of local organizations such as True North Organizing Network, the Nation and State Parks are installing new signage to acknowledge the original Tolowa name of Peacock Bar, See-tr’ee-ghin-dvm-dvn. See-tr’ee-ghin-dvm-dvn translates to "at the stones where the trail descends downward."

See-tr’ee-ghin-dvm-dvn is a well-known day-use area in Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park. Tolowa people inhabited three villages: See-tr'ee-ghin-dvm, Mvn-sray-me' and Datlh-t’uu-k'wvt, along this landscape. These villages were in an area known for some of where the largest redwoods in Del Norte County were later fallen; those trees were also roosting places of the Pacific Northwest condor. 

In the 1850s, a man by the name of George Peacock immigrated to the area and took over the village of See-tr'ee-ghin-dvm. Mr. Peacock gained control of the critical Smith River ferry crossing and attempted to evict the Tolowa families who inhabited See-tr'ee-ghin-dvm; when the Tolowa refused to leave, they were executed and their orphaned children were kept as indentured servants. The acknowledgement and use of the original name for the site, See-tr’ee-ghin-dvm-dvn, reflects the first inhabitants, the Tolowa Dee-ni' and a first step in correcting the historical narrative.

To learn more about the department's efforts on Reexamining Our Past, visit this link.