Pala Indian Reservation
The Pala Indian Reservation is the reservation of the Pala Band of Mission Indians, a federally recognized tribe of Indigenous Californians. The reservation is in the San Luis Rey River Valley in northern San Diego County, California, east of the community of Fallbrook.
The reservation has also historically been called the Mission Indian Reservation.
Pala Band citizens are Cupeño and Luiseño. These bands have shared territory since 1903. Five other federally recognized tribes are Luiseño and are located in southern California.
The Pala Reservation is the most populated reservation in San Diego County. Its area is 52.163 km2 and resident population in 1,573 persons, according to the 2000 census. About 44 percent of whom were of solely Native American heritage. Robert H. Smith is the Tribal Chairman.
Politics
The Pala Band of Mission Indians is governed by a six-member Executive Committee. Committee members elected by the General Counsel, who is composed of voters of 18 and up. Every two years in November an election is held. The tribal committee is made up of a tribal chairman, vice chairman, secretary, treasurer, and two council members. The tribe follows a constitution created in 1994, which was approved by the Bureau of Indian Affairs in 2000 retroactive to 1997.The seat of government of the reservation is in Pala, California.
Reservation
The reservation occupies parts of four 7.5 minute topographic maps: Boucher Hill, Pala, Pechanga, and Vail Lake, California. The area consists of an area in and around Pala, California. The enrolled tribal members descend from two Indian groups: a band of the Luiseño tribe, and the Cupeño Indians, who were historically one of the smallest tribes in California. Their name for themselves was Kuupangaxwichem. The reservation also hosts a radio station, Pala Rez Radio KPRI 91.3 FM.2020 census
History and culture
During the mission period of Spanish colonial times, Pala was the site of San Antonio de Pala Asistencia, an asistencia – an arm of the Catholic Mission San Luis Rey de Francia, downstream toward the coast. The grounds of the former asistencia include a historic cemetery.The tribe is federally recognized. The Cupeño people were evicted in 1901 from their ancestral homeland, called Kupa, on what is now called Warner's Ranch east of Pala. This event is referred to by the tribe as the "Cupeño Trail of Tears." The Cupeño were removed to a tract of land in the Pala Valley adjacent to the Pala Luiseño reservation that already existed there in May 1903. That tract of land was purchased pursuant to the express direction of Congress for "such Mission Indians heretofore residing or belonging to the Rancho San Jose del Valle, or Warners Ranch, in San Diego County, California, and such other Mission Indians as may not be provided with suitable lands elsewhere, as the Secretary of the Interior may see fit to locate thereon." The tract of land had no form of infrastructure, so the Cupeño had to sleep in the open fields. In addition, their Chinigchinich religious ties to their previous land holdings were denied to them, which hindered their spirituality. They have not been able to regain their previous homeland, Kupa.
Gaming and economic development
Traditionally a modest and sometimes poor tribe, since the late 20th century, the Pala Band has developed a large, successful casino and resort hotel: Pala Casino Resort and Spa. The tribe uses proceeds from the gaming and hospitality enterprises to fund social services and education for members, and infrastructure improvements to the reservation. The Pala branch also cultivates a 90-acre avocado grove on the southern part of the reservation. The grove provides jobs to over 40 individuals.Outcomes of the Gaming Profits
- $1.5 million home loan program
- $300,000 scholarship fund for higher education
- Additional land for the Tribal cemetery
- Firefighter and paramedic service
- 24-hour on-site ambulance
- 24/7/365 non commercial FM station KPRI, known as "Rez Radio 91.3"
Environmental department