Hundreds of hectares of redwood forest in California has been returned to its traditional Native owners who were forcibly removed from the land centuries ago.

The 215-hectare stretch of forest was handed back to the InterTribal Sinkyone Wilderness Council this month, a group of ten Northern Californian tribal nations that will work to preserve its environmental and cultural value.

The forest's original name Tc'ih-Léh-Dûñ, meaning "Fish Run Place" in the Sinkyone language, will also be restored.

"Renaming the property Tc'ih-Léh-Dûñ lets people know that it's a sacred place; it's a place for our Native people," Sinkyone Council board member Crista Ray said in a statement.

"It lets them know that there was a language and that there was a people who lived there long before now."

The land provides critical habitat to endangered animals including the northern spotted owl and the marbled murrelet — a small seabird that nests in old-growth forests.

The Sinkyone Wilderness Council will take over conservation of this environment using "a blend of Indigenous place-based land guardianship principles, conservation science, climate adaptation and fire resiliency concepts and approaches".

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