The Round Valley Indian Tribes, a firm client, took a major step toward regaining control of the Eel River necessary to advance restoration work they have led for decades. On February 13, 2025, Tribal Council President Joesph Parker signed a memorandum of understanding at a ceremony at the California Natural Resources Headquarters that lays the groundwork for a binding agreement among the Tribes, Sonoma County Water Agency, Mendocino County Inland Water and Power Commission, Humboldt County, California Trout and Trout Unlimited. The MOU provides assurances that PG&E’s decommissioning of the Potter Valley Hydroelectric Project improves fish migration upstream and downstream and creates conditions to restore the Eel River fishery on which the Tribes have relied for millennia. The Tribes’ unadjudicated federal reserved water and fishing rights and time immemorial presence on the Eel River played a pivotal role in the negations of the MOU. The Eel River has been and continues to be essential to the Round Valley Tribes’ cultural identity, economy and subsistence needs. Erica Costa leads the team of Berkey Williams LLP lawyers representing the Round Valley Indian Tribes in this case. (Photo courtesy of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife)
