It's been two weeks since the Tejon Indians learned they had been reaffirmed as a federally recognized tribe, capping a years-long battle to correct the administrative error that robbed them of their status.
But the tribe will have only a moment to relish its victory. The real work of establishing a reservation is just beginning.
"It's not an overnight process," said Nedra Darling, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs.
First, the tribe will have to acquire and cobble together enough land to establish a sovereign nation.
A reservation existed at one time but was dissolved in the 1960s. Then in the 1970s, when the U.S. government listed all recognized tribes, the Tejons were inadvertently left off.
Today, most of the Tejon land is in private hands.
"Right now, we're classified as a landless California tribe," said Tribal Chairwoman Kathryn Montes Morgan, who, with her nephew, worked for nearly 18 years to regain the tribe's federal recognition.
Members have been looking at land "all over the county" in anticipation of this turn of events, but to date haven't purchased any property, Morgan said.
The most logical place to put a reservation, of course, would be in the Tejon Ranch area where the community has a burial ground and gathers periodically for ceremonies.
Tejon Ranch officials said there aren't any active talks under way about selling land back to the Indians who once inhabited it.
"We've had no engaging discussions at all with the tribe," said Joseph Drew, Tejon Ranch's senior vice president of real estate. "But we certainly wouldn't be against a conversation."
When the tribe is ready to buy, there's a good chance it will get funding assistance from a benefactor who bankrolled the lobbying effort.
The tribe hasn't publicly identified that benefactor, but Las Vegas casino owner William C. Wortman was identified as a contributor to the cause in documents filed with the federal government, sparking speculation that a future reservation would offer gambling.
Wortman didn't return telephone calls requesting an interview. Morgan said it's way too early to talk about a casino.
"We haven't made any decisions," she said, adding that members are more concerned right now with establishing schools, clinics and social services.
To create a reservation, the tribe will have to go through a long, tedious "land into trust" process.
That's a real estate transaction that converts land from private ownership to federal title. At that point, the land becomes the property of the federal government but is controlled by an Indian tribal government. That exempts it from state and local taxes and local land use regulations.
Before the government would consider such a trust, the Tejons would have to submit a voluminous application that covers everything from title history to condition of the property to intended uses and environmental impacts.
Another step to creating a reservation is negotiations with nearby local governments and agencies that would lose tax revenue but potentially be affected by reservation operations.
That's even more complicated if there's a casino in the works, "because there certainly are going to be impacts," said Tulare County Administrative Officer Jean Rousseau.
Tulare County is home to the Tule River Indian Reservation and Eagle Mountain Casino.
Having gaming in the county creates health, public safety and infrastructure issues that have to be addressed, and some counties have done a better job of negotiating mitigation and concessions than others, Rousseau said.
Tulare County and Indian leaders "have our areas of disagreement," he added, "but for the most part it's pretty good."
The reservation has its own police and fire protection, but the two governments work together on shared concerns, such as obtaining grants for the maintenance and improvement of roads that go through both county and reservation land.
Kern County will watch closely as the land into trust process unfolds, said Lorelei Oviatt, director of the county Planning and Community Development Department.
A decade ago, when Nevada gaming business interests were sniffing around eastern Kern County with Indian casino aspirations, the Board of Supervisors requested "the earliest possible notice" of any proposal to allow time for constructive talks, Oviatt said.
If there is a reservation in Kern one day, and if that reservation plans to open a casino, the current board will no doubt want to be kept apprised of, too, Oviatt said.