BIG SUR >> The Western Rivers Conservancy has conveyed the 327-acre Pico Blanco property on the Little Sur River to the Esselen Tribe of Monterey County for permanent conservation and stewardship becoming the second tract it has placed in tribal hands, the Conservancy announced Wednesday.

“The Pico Blanco area, defined by the Little Sur River, is the spiritual, cultural and geographical center for the Esselen Tribe,” said Tribal Chairman and President Tom Little Bear Nason, in a press release. “To have the opportunity for our tribal members to reconnect with more of the river and these ancient redwoods fulfills a deeply meaningful part of our mission. We appreciate the spirit of partnership from Western Rivers Conservancy and California’s Wildlife Conservation Board that has made this possible.”

The Pico Blanco property is made up of two parcels of undeveloped land that was formerly part of Camp Pico Blanco Boy Scout camp and was once owned by newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst, who donated the land to the Boy Scouts in the 1950s.

The Boy Scouts had not been able to use the camp for more than eight years after wildfires and heavy rains took their toll on the forest and roads accessing the site. Firefighters have saved the camp three times including from the 1977 Marble Cone, the 2008 Basin Complex and the 2016 Soberanes fires.

Western Rivers Conservancy worked with the Silicon Valley Monterey Bay Council of Boy Scouts of America and the Esselen Tribe since 2019 to acquire the property and secured funding from the Wildlife Conservation Board to purchase and convey the property to the Tribe. Individual donors provided support to Western Rivers Conservancy for costs that were critical to the project.

“Western Rivers’ years-long partnership with the Esselen Tribe has delivered tremendous conservation wins for the Little Sur River with its majestic redwoods, threatened fish and endangered wildlife, while returning it to its original stewards, the Esselen people,” said Nelson Mathews, Western Rivers Conservancy interim president, in the release. “We are honored once again to work with a Tribal partner to achieve our shared goals of permanently protecting the West’s precious waterways.”

The Pico Blanco property holds significant sacred and cultural meaning for the Esselen Tribe, as it is located at the base of a white limestone-topped mountain they call Pixchi — or Pico Blanco — which the tribe considers the “Center of the Esselen World” and is where its creation story began, according to the Western Rivers Conservancy.

Ecologically, the land features 1.3 miles of the Little Sur River, which provides critical habitat for numerous imperiled species, as well as one of the largest stands of old-growth redwoods on the Central Coast of California. The Wildlife Conservation Board provided funding for the purchase of the property.

The Pico Blanco property is the second piece of ancestral land the Western Rivers Conservancy has conveyed to the Esselen Tribe of Monterey County.

In July 2020, the Conservancy completed a landmark conservation project that placed the 1,199-acre Adler Ranch — now renamed Eagle Peak — located roughly 20 miles south of Monterey and just a mile downstream from Pico Blanco, into Tribal ownership. The Pico Blanco conveyance of land adds 327 acres and 1.3 miles of the Little Sur River to that ownership.

The Little Sur River and Pico Blanco are environmentally rich with the river flowing more than 25 miles from its headwaters in the Santa Lucia Mountains in the Ventana Wilderness into a deep, redwood-shaded valley before it empties into the Pacific Ocean north of Andrew Molera State Park. The river provides habitat for imperiled fish and wildlife, including endangered California condor, threatened California red-legged frog, California spotted owl and numerous other species. The Little Sur is considered the Central Coast’s most important and pristine spawning stream for threatened South-Central California Coast steelhead. Combined, the Pico Blanco and Eagle Peak conveyances to the Esselen Tribe conserve 2.3 miles of vitally important habitat for these precious species.

Western Rivers Conservancy purchases land along rivers and streams in the West to conserve habitat for fish and wildlife, protect key sources of cold water and create public access for all to enjoy, according to the organization. To ensure the lands it acquires are protected in perpetuity, the Conservancy transfers them to long-term stewards including the U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, state parks and Tribal Nations. It has created sanctuaries for fish and wildlife and secured recreational access along 250 rivers and streams around the West. It has protected more than 440 river miles and over 220,000 acres of land in nine western states.

The Esselen Tribe of Monterey County says its mission is to preserve and to protect its cultural heritage and ancestral sacred sites. Its efforts are not solely dedicated to the Esselen Tribe, but encompass protection and preservation of the Esselen, Rumsen, Chalone, Sureño, Chunchunes and Guatcharrone people, which includes but is not limited to the villages of Achasta, Chalon, Echilat, Ensen, Excelen, Esslenajan, Ixchenta, Jojopan, Kuchun, Pachepas, Sargenta-Ruc, Soccoronda and Tucutnut, all which are located within sacred prehistoric and historic tribal lands of Monterey County. The Esselen Tribe of Monterey County formed a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization with the goal of continuing cultural traditions and preserving the cultural heritage of the historic tribes that are located within Monterey County, along with protecting and preserving the recognized and unrecognized sacred lands and archeological sites.