This is Muwekma Ohlone Land.
We are fiercely dedicated to defending her.
The Muwekma Ohlone Preservation Foundation, founded in 2021, collaborates with tribal members and allies to advance the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe's goals of resilience, cultural revitalization, and community building. It protects natural and cultural resources, raises awareness through events, and supports education, stewardship, and ecologically sustainable land-based tribal micro-economies.
Land is sacred.
Restoring Balance to the Human-Land Relationship
The Foundation's approach to protecting the land is rooted in the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe’s desire to restore balance to the relationship of humans to the land, fostering a reciprocal, familial bond with all systems of Creation. We nurture ecosystems for mutual prosperity, emphasizing respect, protection from degradation, and understanding nature as possessing agency, while advocating for returning land to indigenous stewardship.
Native Food Systems
We are pursuing the restoration of native food systems via mak-'amham ("our food"), through foraging seasonal ingredients like acorns and mushrooms, and providing meals for elders in need. Rooted in the Tribe’s approach to decolonization, it revitalizes Chochenyo language, ancestral recipes, and implements sustainable land stewardship, reconnecting culture and health.
Wildlife Protection
Protecting wildlife is about fostering reciprocal kinship with animals as sentient kin. We nurture habitats to sustain biodiversity, prevent degradation, and restore ancestral lands to benefit the cleanliness of our shared water, air, and soil, ensuring ecosystems thrive for all beings.
Ecological Restoration
The Muwekma Ohlone Tribe's ecological restoration works to restore a reciprocal relationship with our ancestral homelands. Initiatives like the Acorn Harvest, beaver reintroductions, and utilizing traditional cultural burns to revitalize dormant plant species, advance biodiversity and sustainable ecosystems that honor indigenous kinship with the land.
Traditional Land Management
Our approach to land management is grounded in fostering reciprocal, familial bonds with the land and its sentient elements. We prioritize sustainable balance with all Creation, protecting against degradation, ensuring collaborative access for cultural gatherings and native gardens, and nurturing biodiversity and mutual thriving.
Sustainable Tribal Economies
The Foundation works to cultivate sustainable land-based economies through eco-tourism on repatriated ancestral lands, offering immersive cultural experiences, educational tours, and events highlighting Ohlone history, artistry, and spirituality. Partnerships foster native gardens, ceremonial gatherings, and enterprise initiatives like the Bella Madeira Horse Medicine Ranch, will generate revenue and jobs for tribal members.
Community education is at the core of what we do. For a people who have struggled to be seen by the federal government, it’s a matter of survival.
Please support the cultural vitality of the Ohlone People.
Rematriate the Presidio
The Presidio was once the site of four Ohlone villages. It was stolen by the Spanish and used to hold us captive before enslaving us at Missions Delores, Santa Clara, and San Jose.
Help us build a National Park.
The greater Ohlone Wilderness Area and the Tuuyshtak Range are vast and extraordinary landscapes that have been home to Ohlone people for more than 10,000 years.
Our Tribe was federally recognized in 1905 as the Verona Band of Alameda County — and we have never been terminated by an act of Congress. But in 1978, when the official list of tribes was first drafted, the BIA erred in wrongly omitting us. In 2022, a federal district court judge in the Northern District of California has affirmed that we’ve retained our sovereign immunity despite not being on the BIA’s list.
Our struggle
to be seen.
A bold act of survival.
The Trail of Truth was a bold act of resistance against the "Politics of Erasure," protesting 40 years of denied federal recognition that has profoundly undermined our Tribe’s sovereignty, self-governance, land rights, and access to essential federal programs.
Meet the Founder of the Preservation Foundation
Charlene C. Nijmeh, Chairwoman of the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe since 2018, succeeded her mother, Rosemary Cambra, after her 43-year tenure advocating for indigenous rights in the San Francisco Bay Area. Nijmeh began tribal engagement at age 8, aiding repatriation efforts. As a cultural resources specialist, she monitored ancestral sites for agencies and developers. Now, she leads the Tribe’s push for federal recognition, serves as Muwekma Ohlone Preservation Foundation’s Board President. Nijmeh champions non-violent resilience against colonial legacies in her TEDx talk, "The Colonizers Among Us," emphasizing unity and sovereignty for her 600+ members.
Our Board of Directors blends tribal leadership with expert allies to champion cultural revitalization, land conservation, and education. Board President Charlene Nijmeh, Muwekma Ohlone Tribal Chairwoman, guides the board alongside tribal members Richard Torres, Thomas Martinez, and Corina Arellano. Non-tribal members include Secretary Aaron Hébert (ecologist), ethnohistorian Alan Leventhal, anthropologist Dr. Mike V. Wilcox, biologist Dr. Tadashi Fukami, and archaeologist Dr. Lee Panich, fostering indigenous resilience and sovereignty.
Meet Our Board
Connect with our Team
Bernadette Quiroz
Bernadette Quiroz, Director of Language Revitalization Programs for the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe, leads the revival of the endangered Chochenyo language through innovative learning resources and cultural integration. A passionate tribal member and mother of three, she has developed 15 online tools, supports fundraising, and delights in hearing her people speak their native tongue. She enjoys beading and family beach outings.
bernadette.quiroz@muwekmafoundation.org
Director of Language Revitalization 
Julie Dominguez
Julie Dominguez, Community Education Co-Chair for the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe, spearheads programs promoting Ohlone history, language, and culture in schools, libraries, and communities. She advocates for Native youth facing cultural biases, drawing from her San Jose roots as a mom, turned dancer and land protector. Passionate about acknowledgment, she crafts educational events and media outreach to ensure that the Tribe will never be invisible again.
julie.dominguez@muwekmafoundation.org
Director of Community Education
Joey (Iyolopixtli) is an Ohlone Culture Bearer and Director of Cultural Programs, leading a reawakening of the Tribe’s spiritual life, mentoring in song, dance, regalia-making, and ceremonial traditions. Descendant of Mission San Jose families, Joey organizes youth gatherings and plays a key role in fostering the Tribe’s nation-to-nation relationships. San Jose father of three, he carves abalone, dances, and cherishes art, music, and family bonds.
joseph.torres@muwekmafoundation.org
Director of Cultural Programs