In a gesture of respect, the Santa Barbara City Council agreed on Tuesday to let the Coastal Chumash Community store its tomol on West Beach at no charge.
“The tomol has been used by the Chumash in the Santa Barbara Channel really for thousands of years,” said Mike Wiltshire, waterfront director. “It’s long been an integral part of Chumash life.”
The vote was 7-0 to let the Chumash store the tomol, which is a canoe made of wooden planks of redwood or pine and sealed with tar. The Chumash hold regular ceremonial paddles from the harbor to the Channel Islands, Wiltshire said.
“They are really predominantly used right here in the Santa Barbara Channel,” Wiltshire said.
Waiving the $275 fee is a gesture that acknowledges the significance and history of the Chumash, Wiltshire said.
“Because of your position at this city in this point in history, you have the opportunity to begin to honor the Chumash. The history of what’s happened to the Chumash people has not been told,” said Marcus Lopez, co-chair of the Barbareno Tribal Council. “That means to understand what has taken place in the past and what can be done in the present. The history of what has happened to the Chumash people has not been told.”
The Waterfront Department dedicates a portion of West Beach to the storage of outrigger canoes, small sailboats and other watercraft. The city offers 51 individual permits for storing and nine rack permits, along with space for one tomol. The canoes are on the sand near Sea Landing.
The permits are sold annually, beginning in March, on a first-come, first-serve basis. Existing members of outrigging canoe clubs get priority. Outrigger clubs began in Santa Barbara in the 1980s.
Councilman Eric Friedman said he used to race outriggers and he can remember seeing the Chumash tomol.
“It’s a really beautiful site to see, and that connection to our heritage, the Chumash heritage in particular going back thousands of years,” Friedman said. “Having this go forward and having it in perpetuity, and the tomol at West Beach is a great move forward.”
— Noozhawk staff writer Joshua Molina can be reached at jmolina@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
