Issa’s 4-year effort to transfer land culminates with president’s signature

By NICOLE SACK - Staff Writer | Thursday, October 16, 2008

PECHANGA INDIAN RESERVATION —- After four years of trying to get federal land transferred to the Pechanga tribe, U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa’s legislation to hand over 1,178 acres was signed into law by President George Bush this week.

The Pechanga Band of Luiseno Mission Indians Land Transfer Act will take land in Riverside and San Diego counties out of the stewardship of the federal Bureau of Land Management and put it into a land trust for the tribe.

“This marks the return of an area with deep cultural and historic significance to the Pechanga people,” Tribal Chairman Mark Macarro said in a statement Wednesday. “We’re looking forward to once again taking responsibility for the environmental stewardship of these lands.”

The legislation by Issa, R-Vista, is explicit about how the land can and cannot be used. The transferred federal property must be preserved as open space. No roads, other than for maintenance, may be constructed. The bill also prohibits buildings or gambling on the transferred land.

The Bureau of Land Management manages 261.8 million acres primarily in 12 western states. Issa’s bill will take three separate parcels out of the bureau’s control and add them to the reservation’s existing 5,500 acres.

In the late 19th century, the parcels provided refuge for the Pechanga after they were driven off land they occupied in Temecula Valley, according to the tribe’s Web site. A group of ranchers petitioned the state to remove Indians from Temecula Valley, which was then part of San Diego County, and, in 1875, the county sheriff led a posse to evict the Indians from the valley and force them into the hills south of Temecula Creek, the Web site states.

“These lands provided our ancestors with refuge for almost a decade after being evicted from their homelands in 1875,” Macarro stated. “Literally, this place bonded and saved the Pechanga people after the eviction. Words cannot express how culturally and historically significant this transfer is to the Pechanga people.”

The largest parcel is a 971-acre area just west of the existing reservation. The rugged land is covered with a dense mix of oak woodlands, chaparral and coastal sage scrub. The slopes throughout the parcel are steep and eroded.

A second 200-acre area to the northeast of the reservation has also been identified as surplus land by the Bureau of Land Management. The last parcel the tribe would get is 20 acres in an isolated area just south of Sun City that contains burial sites of much significance to the tribe, its leaders say.

Of the total, about 13 acres will remain outside the tribe’s control because they are power line easements.

The first version of the land transfer bill was introduced in November 2004, according to Frederick Hill, Issa’s press secretary. The final version of the bill, H.R. 2963, was approved with unanimous consent in both the House and the Senate. The president signed the legislation Tuesday.

In November 2005, the tribe entered into a memorandum of understanding with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Bureau of Land Management that states the Pechanga would manage the lands for conservation purposes and paved the way for the legislation.

“This legislation was in the interest of both preserving the land and taking away a burden from the American taxpayers,” Hill said. “This puts culturally significant land in the hand of those who have the financial resources to preserve it.”

Hill said during the years since the proposal was first introduced, it has been refined, and the final version of the bill was able to address the needs and questions of concerned agencies.

The city of Temecula was one of the agencies with concerns. City officials feared the tribe could use the land for further development with casinos or other uses that would further burden the region’s roads and utilities.

Temecula City Manager Shawn Nelson penned a letter to Issa in May stressing that “it is of paramount importance to the City that these areas be preserved only as open space with absolutely no development that would promote, in any way, resort operations.”

Nelson said Thursday those concerns were addressed and the city supported the approved legislation.

“(House Resolution) 2963 is very consistent with the City Council’s vision of protecting and preserving open space,” Nelson said. “The transferred� land may only be used for the protection, preservation and maintenance of archaeological, cultural, and wildlife resources.� We strongly support this land transfer and congratulate the Pechanga Tribe� for a job well done.”

Contact staff writer Nicole Sack at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2616, or nsack@californian.com.
(c) North County Times

Posted on October 16th, 2008 by hunwut
Filed under: Federal Government, Land, Reservations