UCLA School of Law and the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians have announced the establishment of a new post-graduate fellowship for a scholar to work within the law school’s Native Nations Law and Policy Center. The Richard M.

For thousands of years, the Yurok people have looked to the Klamath River Basin close to California’s northern border for a rich variety of nutritional and cultural sustenance: salmon from the river, elk and berries from the forests, and mussels and clams along the coast, among other culturally significant species. But the arrival of European settlers in the 19th century brought changes that impeded tribal members’ ability to harvest on their ancestral territories.

Sharp and enthusiastic, Ashley Anderson was broadly engaged as a high school student in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. Varsity captain of the academic team. National Honor Society member. Two-time participant in the VEX Robotics World Championship, where she competed against kids from communities far from her home in Cherokee County. And through college at Harvard University and the years that followed, Anderson developed a strong focus and sense of purpose — a motivating ethic that she can now put into action as a Graton Scholar at UCLA School of Law.

For the first time, leaders across Indian country have a toolkit available to them to address Indigenous and human rights through tribal lawmaking that supports and implements the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.