“In order for tribal culture to survive, we must sing new songs and tell new stories. This is my original creation story. I tell it in the spirit of my Tataviam ancestors.”
Puchuk Yaʼiaʼc, Alan Salazar, is a tribal elder in both the Chumash and Fernañdino Tataviam Band of Mission Indians. As a founding member of the Chumash Maritime Association and a member of the California Indian Advisory Council for the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, he helped build the first traditional Chumash plank tomol (canoe) in modern times and has paddled in all the historic crossings from Oxnard to Santa Cruz Island. At 71, Salazar is still paddling tomols and has the honor of mentoring many of the young Chumash paddlers, including his son and grandson.
He has been involved with protecting Native American cultural sites for more than 20 years and has been a consultant and monitor on sites in Ventura, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, and Kern counties.
