The Wishtoyo Foundation is dedicated to protecting and restoring the culture and natural environment of the Chumash Native Americans of the central and southern coastal regions of California. It does so through litigation, aquatic monitoring, advocacy, and promoting its version of traditional culture. ¹

Background

The term “Chumash” refers to the Native population of what is today metropolitan Los Angeles is a contemporary ethnic designation. The hunter-gatherer predecessors of the present population “did not consider themselves part of a single group.” They numbered approximately 20,000 and occupied a coastal California territory from Malibu to Paso Robles and inland to the San Joaquin Valley. They spoke six distinct but related Indigenous languages and subsist primarily on marine resources. Their material culture was similar across the region with extensive trade between groups. ^{2 3 4}

The Wishtoyo Foundation is one of 11 Chumash nonprofits. Four of the remaining ten are museums or maritime institutes and the others serve as legal entities for Chumash bands not recognized by the federal government as tribes. The Santa Inez Band of Chumash Indians and the Tejon Indian Tribe are federally recognized tribes. The latter includes members of other tribes. ^{5 6 7}

Activities

The Wishtoyo Foundation focuses on promoting its version of Chumash culture and protecting and restoring the aquatic environment in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties with a goal of influencing environmental policy statewide. ⁸

Wishtoyo’s Chumash Village, located in Malibu, reconstructs a traditional Chumash village. Public tours and special K-12 school events demonstrate aboriginal Chumash activities of daily life. Religious ceremonies attributed to the hunting and gathering Chumash are performed at the site. Public events include dances by the Dolphin Dancers of the Santa Clara Valley River Chumash Turtle Clan and music composed and recorded by Wishtoyo in Smuwic, an extinct Indigenous language. ^{9 10}

Wishtoyo engages in litigation to mandate clean-up of waterways and to block commercial projects that it claims would endanger water quality and species diversity. Its challenges rely on the Clean Water Act and the Endangered Species Act. ^{11 12}

In 2012, Wishtoyo and Heal the Bay sued the City of Ventura over sewage discharges into the Santa Clara River Estuary, obtaining a federal consent decree to clean up the river. The cost of the project was initially pegged at $231 million but by 2023 had ballooned to $557 million. ¹³

The Center for Biological Diversity and Wishtoyo Foundation sued the U.S. Department of the Interior and the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement in June 2024 for “unlawfully renewing” ExxonMobil offshore oil and gas leases in the Santa Barbara Channel. The suit seeks to end offshore fuel drilling in California alleging “irreparable damage to marine ecosystems and fisheries essential to Chumash lifeways” by an “aggressively colonialist fossil fuels industry.” It cites a 2015 ExxonMobil corroded pipeline rupture off the Santa Barbara coast which released 140,000 gallons of oil and caused the company to shutter operations. ^{14 15}

Wishtoyo was part of a coalition of organizations represented by the Environmental Defense Center that opposed ExxonMobil’s bid to truck millions of gallons of oil through Santa Barbara as a prelude to restarting three drilling platforms off the Santa Barbara coast and reactivating its processing facility. The company terminated its lawsuit against Santa Barbara County’s denial of the plan in February 2024. ¹⁶

Wishtoyo’s Ventura Coastkeeper program partners with California State University Channel Islands to conduct an ongoing water quality monitoring project certified by the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board. A team of scientists and college students record data on water quality and species habitats in Ventura County’s coastal watersheds. The data is analyzed at a university lab and used as the basis for fishing, swimming, and wildlife remediation plans. ^{17 18 19}

Funding

The Wishtoyo Foundation received $438,346 in grants and contributions in 2022. Funding included $205,150 from Seventh Generation Advisors in unrestricted support. ²⁰

Leadership

Mati Waiya (Little Hawk) is a ceremonial leader of the Chumash Santa Clara River Turtle Clan and the founder and executive director of the Wishtoyo Foundation. A lifelong resident of Ventura County, he attended Ventura College. Waiya ran his own construction company before assuming leadership of Wishtoyo. He sits on the board of the Center for Biological Diversity. ²¹

A 2019 Los Angeles Times article alleged that Mati Waiya’s claim to Chumash ancestry was unfounded. The Times’ review of historical records showed that Waiya’s forebears came from Mexico. The article also revealed that Wishtoyo Foundation employs a number of Waiya’s relatives and suggested that Wishtoyo is a vehicle for Waiya family enrichment. It quotes a member of the Barbareno/Ventureano Band of Mission Indians who characterized Waiya’s work as “’colonization of our culture for his own personal gain. We don’t get to weigh in on how he is interpreting our culture.’” The article also noted that millions in revenue from a legal settlement were to be applied to building a Chumash museum that had yet to be built and the purchase of a golf course for $5.5 million. ²²

Two University of Oregon anthropologists issued a rebuttal. They asserted that “cultural identity and Native affiliation should be determined by communities in negotiation with state and federal officials,” questioned the accuracy of historical records for determining descent, argued that no living Chumash are of fully Chumash ancestry, and noted that “attacks” such as that of Times follow “the marked success of one indigenous group or another, as well as litigation by native peoples trying to stop powerful political and economic interests.” ²³

1.  “Wishtoyo Foundation Annual Report 2018 by Wishtoyo Foundation – Issuu,” November 8, 2018.  Accessed August 8, 2024. https://issuu.com/wishtoyofoundation/docs/final_draft_2018_gotprint_edit_2
2. “Chumash Life | Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History.” Accessed August 14, 2024. Accessed August 8, 2024. https://www.sbnature.org/collections-research/anthropology/chumash-life/
3. “Chumash | California, Native Americans, Indigenous | Britannica.” Accessed August 14, 2024. Accessed August 8, 2024.  https://www.britannica.com/topic/Chumash
4. Parks, California State. “California State Parks.” CA State Parks. Accessed August 14, 2024. https://www.parks.ca.gov/
5. Roberts, Andrea Suozzo, Alec Glassford, Ash Ngu, Brandon. “Nonprofit Explorer.” ProPublica, May 9, 2013. Accessed August 8, 2024.  https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/search?q=chumash
6. Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians. “Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians,” July 25, 2024. Accessed August 9, 2024. https://chumash.gov
7. Tejon Indian Tribe. “Home.” Accessed August 9, 2024. https://www.tejonindiantribe.com/
8. “Wishtoyo Chumash Foundation.” Accessed August 9, 2024. https://ventura.surfrider.org/news/wishtoyo-chumash-foundation
9. “Chumash Cultural Village: Where Malibu Began | Awaken,” February 5, 2024. Accessed August 10, 2024. https://awaken.com/2024/02/chumash-cultural-village-where-malibu-began/
10.  Alliance for California Traditional Arts. “Wishtoyo Foundation.” Accessed August 10, 2024. https://www.actaonline.org/profile/wishtoyo-foundation/
11. “Wishtoyo Foundation Annual Report 2018 by Wishtoyo Foundation – Issuu,” November 8, 2018.  Accessed August 8, 2024. https://issuu.com/wishtoyofoundation/docs/final_draft_2018_gotprint_edit_2
12. Roberts, Andrea Suozzo, Alec Glassford, Ash Ngu, Brandon. “Wishtoyo Foundation, Full Filing – Nonprofit Explorer.” ProPublica, May 9, 2013. Accessed August 11, 2024. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/954124859/202313179349309556/full
13. Wilson, Alex. “The Price of Water: Increasing Cost Estimates for VenturaWaterPure Raise Concerns.” VC Reporter | Times Media Group – News, Culture, Arts and Opinion, November 23, 2023. Accessed August 11, 2024. https://www.vcreporter.com/news/the-price-of-water-increasing-cost-estimates-for-venturawaterpure-raise-concerns/article_83ade832-895d-11ee-b6b1-57a0cf567100.html
14. Center for Biological Diversity. “Lawsuit Challenges Rubber-Stamped Extensions for California Offshore Oil Leases.” Accessed August 14, 2024. https://biologicaldiversity.org/w/news/press-releases/lawsuit-challenges-rubber-stamped-extensions-for-california-offshore-oil-leases-2024-06-27/
15. Gennaro, Michael. “Environmentalists Sue Feds Over Oil-and-Gas Lease Renewals in Santa Barbara Channel. Courthouse News Service, June 27, 2024. Accessed August 11, 2024. https://www.courthousenews.com/environmentalists-sue-feds-over-oil-and-gas-lease-renewals-in-santa-barbara-channel/
16. “ExxonMobil Drops Court Bid to Truck Oil in Santa Barbara » Environmental Defense Center.” Accessed August 12, 2024. https://www.environmentaldefensecenter.org/programs_press_type/parent-room/exxonmobil-drops-court-bid-to-truck-oil-in-santa-barbara/
17. Wishtoyo Chumash Foundation. “General 4.” Accessed August 12, 2024. https://www.wishtoyo.org/watershed-monitoring-and-scientific-research
18. “CI and Wishtoyo Foundation’s Ventura Coastkeeper (VCK) Form Collaborative Partnership – News Releases – CSU Channel Islands.” Accessed August 12, 2024. https://www.csuci.edu/news/releases/2010_CI_and_Wishtoyo_Foundation_Ventura_Coastkeeper_%28VCK%29_Fo.htm
19. “Mati Waiya, Chumash Leader, Joins Center for Biological Diversity Board of Directors.” Accessed August 14, 2024. https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2017/mati-waiya-03-09-2017.php
20. “Ventura Coastkeeper | Ventura, CA | Cause IQ.” Accessed August 14, 2024. https://www.causeiq.com/organizations/wishtoyo-foundation,954124859/
21. “Mati Waiya, Chumash Leader, Joins Center for Biological Diversity Board of Directors.” Accessed August 14, 2024. https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2017/mati-waiya-03-09-2017.php
22. Elmahrek, Adam, Pringle, Paul. “He Claimed Chumash Ancestry and Raised Millions. But Experts Say He’s Not Chumash.” Los Angeles Times, December 23, 2019. Accessed August 14, 2024. https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-12-23/chumash-ancestry-mati-waiya-20191223
23. Yamamura, Jean. “The Battle for Chumash Identity.” The Santa Barbara Independent (blog), February 10, 2020. Accessed August 14, 2024.  https://www.independent.com/2020/02/10/the-battle-for-chumash-identity/