The endangered California condor, the largest land bird in North America, is set to fly the skies again over the Golden State's Redwood Coast, after more than a 100-year absence

The giant birds once soared up and down the Pacific Coast, from Mexico all the way north to Canada.

Now, however, there are a little more than 400 of the large birds in the world now, only about 230 of which are living in the wild, John McCamman, a condor coordinator for Fish and Wildlife Service in Sacramento, Calif, told the Associated Press.

Like eagles, condors in the 1960s and 1970s became unable to hatch their eggs because DDT made the shells too thin, according to the Fish and Wildlife.

Condors face ongoing threats to their recovery, particularly being poisoned by lead ingested when they feed on animal carcasses with lead shot or bullet fragments, McCamman said.

Using $600,000 in grants from Fish and Wildlife, the Yurok tribe, which holds the vultures sacred, has been assessing habitat, taking blood samples from turkey vultures to assess the threat of lead poisoning and testing dead sea lions that wash up on the beach for the toxic pesticide DDT.

Yurok officials signed a memorandum of understanding last month with state and federal agencies, as well as a condor conservation group, that called for test releases of the birds in the northern coastal region in order to determine if the area can, in fact, can support the condor's re-introduction.

Returning the condor to the wild is part of Yurok environmental work, along with efforts aimed at restoring salmon numbers and improving the health of area forests.

After five years of research, the tribe, based in the upper portion of the state, has been granted permission to release captive-bred condors -- the first of the releases perhaps happening within one to three years, tribal biologist Chris West said told the AP.

Meetings will begin in July to work out protocols and select a release site -- likely one of seven currently under consideration, mainly south of the Klamath River and within Redwood National and State Parks or private land.

Establishing another population of condors far from the five existing sites in Southern and central California, Arizona, and Mexico's Baja California would significantly reduce the threats to the giant bird's recovery, said Fish and Wildlife officials in the AP story.

All the released birds are expected to be fitted on their wings and tails with tiny radio transmitters that will allow biologists to track them via GPS satellites, which would in turn send the data to research computers that can use the information to monitor for lead exposure.

Condor feathers are part of traditional regalia used in Yurok ceremonial dances, said tribal microbiologist Tiana Williams.

"When a species like condor or eagle gives you material for your regalia, it is considered their spirit is in that, too. They are singing with you, and praying with you," she said. "We can get feathers from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, but it's not the same thing as being able to go out there and collect the feathers we need from condors flying over our own skies."