TEMECULA, Calif. ? The Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians suffered a defeat in Congress when a proposed amendment to a bill to secure purchase of 724 acres of land adjacent to the reservation was cut from the final version of an appropriations bill.
The tribe says the land is a historical part of the Pechanga Reservation and a culturally and biologically significant area.
Apparently the appropriations rider was dropped during a joint House and Senate conference to iron out differences in House and Senate measures. It is not known why the rider, written by Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., was dropped. Press reports indicate Boxer was left out of the loop.
She could not be reached for comment since her office was one of those evacuated in the Senate office anthrax scare.
Pechanga tribal spokesman Russell ‘Butch’ Murphy said he was unsure of what happened in the closed-door meeting. He says the tribe is ‘determined’ to pursue other avenues to move the land from its fee status into trust.
One option is the BIA administrative process which the tribe sought to streamline through congressional action. The BIA process it is notoriously slow going and sometimes takes years for a desired action to take place.
However, Murphy said though this is a setback the tribe will fight on.
‘The effort has certainly not stopped. We will find any way that we can to make sure that this land is elevated to trust status and get this thing moving.’
Complicating the matter is San Diego Gas and Electric’s proposed 500,000-volt line, known as the Valley-Rainbow Interconnect, which would go directly through the 724-acres, known as the Great Oak Ranch. Pechanga wants to place the land into trust to block the proposed project from going directly through the Great Oak Ranch.
Pechanga tribal sources also said the land is intended to be preserved for cultural purposes since the tribe already operates a casino on its existing reservation.
Apparently the power company filed appeals with the BIA to slow this process, though company representatives said officially they do not oppose the Great Oak Ranch going into trust status. Power officials said the Great Oak Ranch route is just one alternative of many they are exploring.
The preferred route would be through other Pechanga lands at the southeastern boundary of the reservation.
John Gomez, who works at the Pechanga Cultural Resources Center, said the land holds many cultural and natural sites important to the tribe and includes the historic Great Oak, one of the largest of its species. The 724-acres was part of the original Pechanga reservation until 1851.
Later the land was known as the Great Oak Ranch when Erle Stanley Gardner, a mystery writer who wrote the famed Perry mason series, bought it. The Pechanga tribe reacquired the land in May for an undisclosed amount, immediately placing it in fee status.