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 This is a list of federally recognized tribes in the contiguous United States of America. There are also federally recognized Alaska Native tribes. , 574 Indian tribes were legally recognized by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) of the United ...

Kumeyaay The Kumeyaay, also known as Tipai-Ipai or by their 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 Unit ...

Indians, who are sometimes known as

Mission Indians Mission Indians are the indigenous peoples of California who lived in Southern California and were forcibly relocated from their traditional dwellings, villages, and homelands to live and work at 15 Franciscan missions in Southern California and ...

, located in

San Diego County, California San Diego County (), officially the County of San Diego, is a county in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,298,634, making it California's second-most populous county and the fi ...

. "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 Indian reservation is an area of land held and governed by a federally recognized Native American tribal nation whose government is accountable to the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs and not to the state government in which it ...

located in the

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

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 Forest ...

, 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.

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. 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 the Cleveland National ...

. 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, a ...

."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 Alpine may refer to any mountainous region. It may also refer to: Places Europe * Alps, a European mountain range ** Alpine states, which overlap with the European range Australia * Alpine, New South Wales, a Northern Village * Alpine National Pa ...

and

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

, 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 ...

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

Kumeyaay.com: official Ewiiaapaap Band of Kumeyaay Indians, Cuyapaipe Reservation website

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 California 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)