‘We felt so betrayed’: Indigenous tribe reels after exclusion from US marine sanctuary

The Chumash tribe had advocated for California's central coast to be protected, but a draft management plan left out the stretch they had hoped would be protected

Violet Sage Walker stands on the bow of Greenpeace's Arctic Sunrise ship and looks out at Morro Rock jutting up from the Pacific Ocean. The dramatic promontory - known as Lisamu' in Chumash, the language of Walker's tribe - is part of a stunning stretch of California coastline she hoped would soon be part of a sprawling new marine sanctuary six times the size of Yosemite.

Walker is the chairwoman of the Northern Chumash Tribal Council, a small group of Indigenous Americans who once lived along the coast of San Luis Obispo county. Records of their occupation of the central coast date back to 18,000 years.