House committee debates bill to give land to Indian tribe

Erica Werner

Friday, Sept. 24, 2004 | 9:08 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- The House committee that sets environmental policy appears poised to add 990 acres to the Riverside County reservation of California's wealthy Pechanga Band of Luiseno Mission Indians.

Tribal chairman Mark Macarro and federal officials said at a House Resources Committee hearing this week that the Bureau of Land Management property has no commercial value or development potential, and the tribe is better equipped to maintain it than the federal government.

"Protecting the sanctity of these lands through conservation and resource management is of the highest priority for the tribe," Macarro said.

Pechanga is one of the state's wealthiest tribes, with a popular casino in Temecula on reservation land that abuts the parcel in question. The anti-casino group Stand Up for California accused the tribe of seeking the land to pave the way for a second casino, but Macarro denied that.

He said the tribe wanted to add the land to its existing, 5,500-acre reservation to preserve more of its ancestral territory, gain greater ability to fight fires and ensure access to drinking-water runoff from the rocky terrain in the new territory.

Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Vista, who sponsored the bill to put the land into trust for the tribe at no cost, also said he was satisfied no changes would be made to the remote area.

"They've agreed to do anything they need to do to assure that it's going to be maintained in perpetuity as it has been maintained by BLM, except clearly Pechanga, at least at this time, has far more revenue for ensuring fire protection, habitat, water conservation and so on," Issa said in an interview.

"The only concern is the standard concern, they have a casino, will they do more casino, and this does not enable or change anything, the California compacts are what enable the casinos and that's Gov. Schwarzenegger's job," Issa added.

Stand Up for California director Cheryl Schmit distributed a letter to Issa and Resources Committee Chairman Richard Pombo opposing the bill.

"This legislation grants the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Mission Indians additional exemptions in state and federal environmental law, opportunity for gaming expansion and expanded reserved water rights," the letter said.

Macarro dismissed Schmit's concerns, noting that any commercial development of the land would be contrary to tribal zoning for the area.

"There are cultural resources, rocks and rock carvings as well as rock paintings on this property, we believe cultural resources that exist nowhere else," he said in an interview. "The amount of drainage off that mountainside drains into our recharge area, so it's a key part of our water quality and our water supply."

Issa said he expected the legislation would pass the full House and Senate before Congress adjourns for the year.