Tom Little Bear Nason of Carmel Valley dedicated his life to preserving the cultural heritage of the Indigenous Esselen people of what eventually became Monterey County. He stayed dedicated through extended periods of little to no progress, speaking to anyone who would listen, from protests on the banks of the Carmel River to state water regulators to the halls of Washington, D.C., as he sought to raise awareness of the tribe.
He stuck with this goals relentlessly, eventually leading the nonprofit Esselen Tribe of Monterey County to acquire at least 3,200 acres, a success story in the Land Back movement that seeks to restore land to Indigenous people.
Nason died on Saturday, Aug. 1, with his wife, Cara Nason, at his side, according to a statement issued by the Esselen Tribe of Monterey County. "He took his final breath wrapped safely in the loving arms of his devoted wife, resting directly upon the sacred, ancestral land that nourished his roots and shaped his life," the Tribe wrote.
"Little Bear was a beacon of wisdom, strength, and dignity. He carried the ways of our people with grace, serving as a pillar for our family and community."
Nason grew up in Tassajara and spent his life in and around Carmel Valley and the Ventana Wilderness. Tribal leaders in the 1990s pursued the process of seeking federal tribal recognition, hoping that it would help them achieve their eventual goal of acquiring land they could call their own.
A series of longtime relationships and state grant funds, along with growing public awareness of the Land Back movement to restore stolen lands to the direct descendants of the people who were once forced out of their homes, helped fuel a transformational success for the tribe even without federal recognition—tribal leadership forged ahead, patiently and persistently, without it.
"This is one of the first times a tribe has gotten its land back,” Nason said in 2019 when the tribe announced it would acquire the land once known as Sargenta-Ruc. The 1,199-acre property along the Little Sur River was known as the Adler Ranch at the time the tribe came to own it, thanks to a partnership with the Western Rivers Conservancy and state grant funds. In 2025, another 327 acres followed.
A parallel Carmel Valley project with a different conservation-oriented nonprofit collaborator, The Wildlands Conservancy, saw 1,720 acres of Rana Creek Ranch conveyed to the tribe in 2025 for $8.6 million, all thanks to state grant funding.
"This gets our people back home,” Nason said at the time. “If we find our ancestors, we select where we want to bury them. These lands are giving us the opportunity to do that.”
In 2022, the tribe teamed up with two other nonprofits—White Stag Leadership Development Academy and Camping Unlimited—to acquire the former Camp Pico Blanco from the Boy Scouts of America.
The tribe has also reached agreements to co-manage certain lands with other organizations, such as the 5,105-acre Basin Ranch property owned by the Big Sur Land Trust.
Nason's career paralleled his tribal leadership roles. Decades back, he led horseback tours of the Ventana Wilderness, pointing out sacred sites and explaining Indigenous history to visitors. He worked in construction at Ventana Engineering and Construction, which gave him insight into large-scale earth-moving projects, such as the removal of the San Clemente Dam, something he championed to restore the flow of the Carmel River and for which he worked as a contractor.