The Ewiiaapaayp Band of Kumeyaay Indians, formerly known as the Cuyapaipe Community of Diegueño Mission Indians of the Cuyapaipe Reservation, is a

federally recognized tribe A federally recognized tribe is a Native American tribe recognized by the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs as holding a government-to-government relationship with the US federal government. In the United States, the Native American tribe ...

Kumeyaay The Kumeyaay, also known as 'Iipai-Tiipai or by the historical Spanish name Diegueño, is a tribe of Indigenous peoples of the Americas who live at the northern border of Baja California in Mexico and the southern border of California in the Uni ...

Indians, who are sometimes known as

Mission Indians Mission Indians was a term used to refer to the Indigenous peoples of California who lived or grew up in the Spanish mission system in California. Today the term is used to refer to their descendants and to specific, contemporary tribal nations ...

, located in

San Diego County, California San Diego County (), officially the County of San Diego, is a county (United States), county in the southwest corner of the U.S. state of California, north to its Mexico-United States border, border with Mexico. As of the 2020 United States Cen ...

. "Ewiiaapaayp" is

for "leaning rock," a prominent feature on the reservation.

Reservation

The Ewiiaapaayp Indian Reservation, formerly known as the Cuyapaipe Reservation (), is a federal

Indian reservation An American Indian reservation is an area of land land tenure, held and governed by a List of federally recognized tribes in the contiguous United States#Description, U.S. federal government-recognized Native American tribal nation, whose gov ...

located in the

Laguna Mountains The Laguna Mountains are a mountain range of the Peninsular Ranges in eastern San Diego County, California. The mountains run in a northwest/southeast alignment for approximately . The mountains have long been inhabited by the indigenous Kumey ...

of southern

East County, San Diego East County is a region of San Diego County, California, east of San Diego. Geography East County does not have an official geographic definition, although East County boundaries are unofficially drawn by the County of San Diego for its second d ...

."California Indians and Their Reservations: C."
''SDSU Library and Information Access.'' (retrieved 5 June 2010) The reservation was created in 1891 by the US Congress. Two parcels of land form the reservation. The main Ewiiaapaayp Reservation is large, located near

Mount Laguna Mount Laguna is a small census-designated place (CDP) in San Diego County, California. It is approximately above sea level in a forest of Jeffrey pine, east of San Diego in the Laguna Mountains on the eastern edge of the Cleveland National Fores ...

, and east of Alpine. Only 1% of this arable, with the majority being steep and rocky. No public utilities are available on this parcel. Because of the inaccessibility to this reservation, many Ewiiaapaayp families moved and enrolled in other Kumeyaay tribes. The second parcel, known as the Little Ewiiaapaayp Indian Reservation, is of land located within Alpine, which was put into trust in 1986. That land is leased to the Southern Indian Health Council, which provides health care for seven Kumeyaay tribes as well as non-Natives living in the area. In recent years, 13 people lived on seven houses on the reservation and bred horses. The only access to the reservation is on foot, since it is serviced by a dirt road, gated in several locations. In 1973, two of the five enrolled members lived on the reservation.

Demographics

2020 census

Government

The Ewiiaapaayp Band is headquartered in

Alpine, California Alpine is a census-designated place (CDP) in the Cuyamaca Mountains of San Diego County, California, United States. Alpine had a population of 14,696 at the 2020 census, up from 14,236 at the 2010 census. The town is largely surrounded by Cleve ...

. They are governed by a democratically elected tribal council, according to their constitution, ratified in 1973 and amended in 2002. They are a self-governance tribe, as outlined in the

Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act The Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act of 1975 (Public Law 93-638) authorized the Secretary of the Interior, the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, and some other government agencies to enter into contracts with, ...

."Tribal Government."
''Ewiiaapaayp Band of Kumeyaay Indians''. 26 Oct 2004 (retrieved 5 June 2010) Robert Pinto is their current tribal chairperson."Tribal Governments by Area."
''National Congress of American Indians.'' (retrieved 5 June 2010)

Tribal members

Enrolled members include Michael Garcia; Harlan Pinto, Jr.; Harlan Pinto, Sr.; Gloria Pinto; Robert Pinto, Sr.; Robert Pinto Jr.; and James Robertson."Ewiiaapaayp Tribal Culture and History."
''Ewiiaapaayp Band of Kumeyaay Indians''. 26 Oct 2004 (retrieved 5 June 2010)

Economic development

In 2006, the tribe formed Leaning Rock Water, a company providing bottled drinking water.

Education

The reservation's small exclave that's completely surrounded by the

CDP is served by the Alpine Union Elementary School District and

Grossmont Union High School District Grossmont Union High School District (GUHSD) is a public school district based in eastern San Diego County, California. It serves high school, adult school, and Regional Occupational Program (ROP) students in the cities of El Cajon, Lemon G ...

, while the rest of the reservation is served by the

Mountain Empire Unified School District A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually higher t ...

Activities

The reservation hosts an annual three-day celebration, the Ewiiaapaayp Gathering, at Thing Valley ranch during the last week of July. Gates are opened, and the public is welcome. The gathering features birdsongs, basket weaving, acorn processing and other cultural demonstrations, camping, peon games, and a barbecue.

Bibliography

* Eargle, Jr., Dolan H. ''Northern California Guide: Weaving the Past and Present.'' San Francisco: Tree Company Press, 2000. . * Pritzker, Barry M. ''A Native American Encyclopedia: History, Culture, and Peoples.'' Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. . * Shipek, Florence C. "History of Southern California Mission Indians." ''

Handbook of North American Indians The ''Handbook of North American Indians'' is a series of edited scholarly and reference volumes in Native American studies, published by the Smithsonian Institution beginning in 1978. Planning for the handbook series began in the late 1960s and ...

''. Volume ed. Heizer, Robert F. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, 1978. 610-618. .

References

External links

Ewiiaapaap Band of Kumeyaay Indians

* ttp://www.kumeyaay.info/kumeyaay/ Kumeyaay.info: The Kumeyaay Tribes Guide — Tribal Bands of the Kumeyaay Nation (Diegueño)— ''in San Diego County, California + Baja California state, México''. {{authority control Kumeyaay Mission Indians Federally recognized tribes in the United States Laguna Mountains Native American tribes in San Diego County, California Native American tribes in California East County (San Diego County)