One-time adversaries celebrated partnerships and cooperation today at an event in San Jacinto to celebrate conclusion of an historic tribal water rights settlement between the Soboba Band of Luiseño Indians, the United States government and local water agencies.
With the steps completed to finalize 2008 congressional legislation that sealed the settlement, Soboba Chairman Scott Cozart told the gathering, “We will continue to grow and prosper not only for our own community but for our neighbors as well.”
Disputes over water diversions date back more than a century and negotiations to reach a settlement go back nearly a quarter century.
Larry Echo Hawk, assistant secretary for Indian affairs at the Department of the Interior, recalled his own background as legal counsel for tribes in Idaho and later in Idaho state office and what it was like to pursue water rights settlement negotiations. He complimented Soboba tribal leaders for sitting down to resolve the issues.
The federal government is contributing $11 million to the tribe for development of water-related facilities and another $10 million to San Jacinto Valley water agencies for a water management plan. Local water agencies will contribute $18 million to the tribe for economic development and Los Angeles-based Metropolitan Water District deeded 128 acres of land near Diamond Valley Lake for economic development. The tribe will receive a secure annual imported water supply of up to 9,000 acre-feet and will designate as much as 100 acres of their land as endangered species habitat.
The ceremony at the tribe’s Country Club at Soboba Springs was set up on an outside patio with the sound of a waterfall in the background and a view of the club’s golf course.
The event opened with a Cahuilla bird song by a trio of Soboba cultural resources office bird singers. The song was about salt grass, Seh'mul'tah, a plant that is not abundant as it used to be due to the water it needs to grow.