”Trinidad Head is not the place for cell towers,” Yurok Tribal Chairman Howard McConnell said in a prepared statement. “This has been a sacred site for the Yurok people since the beginning of time. As the original stewards of the headland, we have a continuing responsibility to speak out for it. The Creator made a pact with the Yurok on Trinidad Head to manage this land with the proper respect.”

The Yurok Tribe joins a growing cacophony of opposition to the presence of cellular towers -- or any development -- on Trinidad Head. The issue came to the forefront earlier this year when U.S. Cellular submitted an application to the Trinidad Planning Commission to markedly expand the existing site with a new tower and an additional building. The city's planning commission denied the application, and the company filed an appeal to the Trinidad City Council. Since that filing, U.S. Cellular modified its project, eliminating the new tower, adding two antennas to two existing poles and scratching the building. The City Council referred the revised proposal back to the planning commission earlier this month.

On April 7, McConnell wrote to the Bureau of Land Management asking the agency to review whether the presence of cellular towers and other equipment on Trinidad Head was in violation of the conditions of the land transfer. The federal agency transferred the property to the city of Trinidad in 1983.

”We would hope for an administrative hearing on the matter,” McConnell said in Wednesday's statement.

As of yet, the tribe has received no official response from the BLM.

Friends of Trinidad Head, a group formed to solidify opposition to the ocean-surrounded headland, argues that the presence of development on the outcropping violates the city's own “open space” zoning. McConnell echoed that concern.

”The vistas of Trinidad Head should not be obstructed by private communications towers operated by U.S. Cellular or anything else,” he said. “Currently this land is zoned as open space. What are cell towers doing on it?”

McConnell also referred to the ongoing cooperative effort to develop a management plan for the Tsurai Study Area -- the 12.5 acres on the bluff below the Memorial Lighthouse and home to the Tsurai Village.

”We are also working with the Tsurai Ancestral Society, the city of Trinidad and the state Coastal Conservancy in finalizing a management plan for the 12.5 acre Tsurai Study Area,” McConnell said. “This, we anticipate, will begin the process of transferring it (the Tsurai Study Area) to the Yurok Tribe. Together we will do the right thing.”

The final draft of the management plan is expected to be complete by June 15, followed by a 30-day public comment period with the actual management plan in place no later than Aug. 1.