Natural Resources
Caring for the water, wildlife, soils, and native plants of our homeland — and reviving the traditional ecological knowledge that kept this land abundant for ten thousand years.
What we tend.
The Natural Resources Department works hand-in-hand with Cultural Resources — because for the Esselen, the land and the culture have never been separable.
Water & watersheds
Protecting cold-water springs, creeks, and the Carmel and Arroyo Seco watersheds that sustain our homeland.
Cultural fire
Reviving prescribed and cultural burns — in partnership with CAL FIRE and neighbors — to restore the role of fire on the landscape.
Native plants
Propagation and replanting of soaproot, sedge, willow, redbud, and the food and basketry plants central to Esselen life.
Wildlife & habitat
Stewardship of steelhead, condor, and oak-woodland habitat across reclaimed and ancestral lands.
Traditional land management
Applying traditional ecological knowledge alongside contemporary conservation science.
Conservation partnerships
Working with the Big Sur Land Trust, Western Rivers Conservancy, and agencies to repatriate and protect land.