Pechanga may expand reservation

By: MICHAEL BUCHANAN - Staff Writer | Wednesday, August 25, 2004 10:19 PM PDT ∞

TEMECULA ---- Up on a hill behind the Pechanga Resort & Casino sits a cluster of rocks that, when the sun hits it just right, looks like a crouching bear. Folks on the reservation are familiar with that rock, tribal Chairman Mark Macarro said Wednesday, and the tribe has taken steps to make sure those rocks and nearly a thousand acres of sage-covered hills south of the reservation are left undisturbed.

Legislation has been introduced by U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Temecula, to transfer more than 990 acres of federal land over to the tribe. Issa introduced the bill in late July and the matter has been referred to a House committee.

The land includes the rocky green hills that straddle the border of Riverside and San Diego counties just east of the 5,500-acre reservation and south of the casino. The tribe wants to preserve the land, not develop it, Macarro said.

"It's just the peace of mind that it will continue to look like Mother Nature intended it to," said Macarro, as he stood near a grove of oak trees facing the hills. "It's just one of the aesthetics people love about this area and we're not looking to change that."

Macarro added that the undeveloped hills provide a popular view to resort patrons, particularly when the morning fog creeps over the hilltops.

The land also makes up part of the tribe's watershed. Rain coming down the face of the hills flows into Pechanga Creek and down into the tribe's groundwater supply, Macarro said. Mortar stones, rock paintings and other cultural artifacts have been found in the hills as well, Macarro said.

The area is one of many undevelopable tracts of land that the federal government owns in California. The tribe has been talking with the Bureau of Land Management since the early 1990s to make the land part of the reservation, but those talks were stalled in the mid 1990s.

In the spring of this year, Land Management officials told Issa that they wanted to get rid of the land ---- which the bureau considered too hilly for development ---- and thought the Pechanga Band would be interested, said Dale Neugebauer, Issa's chief of staff.

"It's not commercially viable land," Neugebauer said. "You can't build a house or a business on it and BLM did not want the responsibility of maintaining it any longer."

Because the federal agency and the tribe agree on the deal, Neugebauer said he hopes the legislation will be approved before the end of the year.

Temecula city officials learned about the deal about a week ago, said Mayor Mike Naggar. He added that the move isn't likely to cause any controversy because it will mean the land is controlled locally rather than by the federal government.

"Putting this particular piece of land in the hands of Pechanga will mean that the land will most likely be better taken care of," Naggar said.

Contact staff writer Michael Buchanan at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2623, or mbuchanan@californian.com.