Using state grants, the Esselen Tribe of Monterey County acquires 1,720 acres in Carmel Valley for $8.6 million.

Before the Spanish arrived to the Central Coast some 250 years ago, members of the Esselen Tribe, who numbered about 1,000 souls, occupied a number of villages throughout the Santa Lucia Mountains.

According to Tom Little Bear Nason, chair of the Esselen Tribe of Monterey County, among those villages was “Cappanay,” an Esselen name that translates to “little tules” in English or “tularcitos” in Spanish. It was the Esselen’s largest inland village, Nason says, a gathering place along a trade route from the Salinas Valley to the sea.

Now, the land once home to that village is back under tribal ownership: On July 18, The Wildlands Conservancy (TWC) sold the 1,720-acre Tularcitos Creek property to the nonprofit Esselen Tribe of Monterey County for $8.6 million, with $6.6 million from the state Wildlife Conservation Board and $2 million from the State Coastal Conservancy.

This comes after TWC, a nonprofit that preserves land for public recreation, purchased the land in 2023 for $35 million – $26 million of that from state agencies – as part of its 14,142-acre Rana Creek Ranch acquisition. The initial state funds didn’t apply to the Tularcitos Creek property, which TWC intended to sell to the tribe once funding was found. That funding came from a state budget surplus year in 2022.

“We’re thrilled to see this extraordinary landscape returned to its original stewards, where it will be protected, restored, and cared for with the cultural knowledge and connection that only the Esselen people can bring,” Frazier Haney, executive director of TWC, said in a statement.

State Sen. John Laird, D-Santa Cruz, added, “Protecting this land and returning it to the care of the Esselen Tribe is a meaningful step in preserving California’s natural and cultural heritage. It reflects how we can work together – state agencies, conservation partners and tribal nations – to protect important places for future generations.”

The entire Rana Creek Ranch and Tularcitos Creek properties were once part of the larger 26,581-acre Rancho Los Tularcitos, where Nason says his father Fred worked for 50 years. The Tularcitos Creek property, Nason says, “gives us a place to hang our hat.”

The tribe is co-stewarding Rana Creek Ranch with TWC. Tribal members have completed training in fire and forestry management, and now have their own natural resources department.

The long-term vision at Tularcitos Creek, Nason says, will be a place for gatherings and ceremonies for all tribes, educational programs and guided trips through the land. Work has begun to raise money for things like a nursery, cultural center and fire department.

The land will also give the tribe a place to repatriate Indigenous remains found elsewhere, like those unearthed during construction projects.

“This gets our people back home,” Nason says. “If we find our ancestors, we select where we want to bury them. These lands are giving us the opportunity to do that.”