“Sixteen years to fight for this land”: An Ohlone nation gets 84 acres back near Monterey

On a sunny Saturday in August, Louise Miranda Ramírez stood on land her people had not legally held in generations and asked the crowd to rise for a prayer.

“The first letter that I wrote requesting this land was in 2010,” the chairwoman of the Ohlone/Costanoan-Esselen Nation (OCEN) told the gathering, according to KAZU. “Sixteen years to fight for this land, to bring it back to us.”

The Aug. 1 blessing marked the return of 84 acres on the south side of Highway 68, near Canyon Del Rey Creek and across from the Monterey Regional Airport. It came through a private land trust and state money. The federal government played no part.

How the land came back

Big Sur Land Trust bought the property in 2024. The trust calls it the Hiss Parcel, and Voices of Monterey Bay reports it is known locally as Tarpey Flats. The land had been on the market for development, with plans for up to 37 single-family homes, Voices reported. The trust announced the transfer to OCEN on June 29, 2026, and Voices reported that the California State Coastal Conservancy financed the transfer.

The trust describes the parcel as “a rich mosaic of wetlands, riparian habitat, perennial and annual grasslands, coast live oak woodlands, maritime chaparral, and Monterey Pine Forest,” part of a wildlife corridor that includes Fort Ord National Monument, Jacks Peak County Park and Palo Corona Regional Park.

“Today is about much more than land conservation,” said Jeannette Tuitele-Lewis, the trust’s president and CEO, in the release. “It is about respect, relationship, healing, and the recognition that Indigenous peoples have been the original stewards of these lands for thousands of years.”

In the same release, Miranda Ramírez said OCEN “is the legal tribal government for 600 Tribal Members of Esselen, Carmeleno, Rumsen, Chalon, Soledad Mission, San Carlos Mission descent of Monterey County.” She added: “Having land provides us the opportunity to educate and return Indigenous plants and food.”

The paperwork took longer than anyone wanted. Rachel Saunders, the trust’s vice president of conservation, told Voices that public-money land deals usually take two to four years. Voices reported that after a hospitalization this spring, Miranda Ramírez pressed to close escrow, telling the trust: “If I’m going to die, let this place be in my people’s name.” Escrow closed in June.

What comes next, and what’s in the way

Miranda Ramírez has described plans for stewardship, a community center, a garden to feed tribal members, and a resting place for ancestral remains returned from museums, according to Voices. The nation already faces a possible dispute over an access road it shares with the neighboring Monterra Ranch development, and Voices reported that the tribe does not have deep pockets for a legal fight. “It’s going to be difficult,” Miranda Ramírez said.

That is the reality of land back for a tribe the federal government does not recognize. OCEN holds the land in fee, like any private owner. It cannot ask Interior to place the land in trust, and it does not get the federal programs, from BIA to tribal self-governance funding, that help recognized tribes care for their land. The Muwekma Ohlone Tribe, whose own bid to have the Presidio returned and proclaimed a reservation runs straight through Washington, knows that wall well.

Sonya Tetnowski, a Makah tribal member and CEO of the Indian Health Center of Santa Clara Valley, put it this way at the blessing, as quoted by Voices: “Indigenous peoples are not returning to the land. They never left it. What is returning is recognition.”

Meanwhile, in the East Bay

Ohlone presence is also growing in Oakland’s public spaces.

At Children’s Fairyland, Hummingbird Saves Fire, an adaptation of the Lisjan fire creation story, premiered Sept. 30 and runs through Nov. 29, The Oaklandside reported. It was created with the Lisjan Nation and the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust. Deja Gould, the Lisjan Nation’s historical preservation officer and language keeper, provided the story, and the voice cast is all Indigenous. Fairyland is holding a Native Community Day on Sunday, Nov. 8. “Growing up, you never heard the word ‘Ohlone,'” Gould told The Oaklandside.

In Fruitvale, Peralta Hacienda Historical Park opened Indigenous Voices, a permanent, park-wide exhibition, on Oct. 10, Oakland North reported. Its centerpiece is a 12-foot sculpture by Walter Hood representing sii, the Chochenyo word for water. The show also includes basketry and illustrations by Rumsen Ohlone artist Linda Yamane.

The pattern

Put together, the picture is clear. Ohlone land and Ohlone stories are coming back through land trusts, state conservancies, cities and museums, and mostly to tribes Washington refuses to recognize. The state and private partners have moved. The federal government, which could restore the Ohlone tribes’ government-to-government relationship, has not.

The Muwekma Times will keep tracking Ohlone land returns. Tribes, land trusts and agencies with news are invited to contact the newsroom.