Native Americans revisit their ties to Banning Ranch
Chief Ernie Salas picked up a large conch shell from a wooden table filled with Native American artifacts, gathered all the breath in his lungs and blew as hard as he could into a hole in the spire of the shell as if he were playing a wind instrument.
Ten elementary school children from Aliso Viejo stood on the opposite side of the table, eyeing Salas carefully. They’d never seen someone blow into a shell before.
At first, the 89-year-old struggled to muster the wind necessary to make more than a faint whistle. But on his second try, the rumble emitted from the shell sounded similar to the blare of a foghorn.
Salas, of the Kizh (pronounced “keech”) Gabrieleño tribe, explained that his Native American ancestors once used conch shells to communicate with one another.
“It was so quiet here before. There were no airplanes, trains, cars,” Salas said, gesturing toward the nearby Banning Ranch property in Newport Beach. “It was so silent you could hear miles and miles away.”
Kizh Gabrieleño Native Americans once inhabited the entire Los Angeles basin, extending from Laguna Beach to Santa Barbara, including the site now known as Banning Ranch. The 401-acre property — currently the largest undeveloped coastal land in Southern California — has been used for oil operations since the 1940s. But centuries before that, Native American groups called it home.
On Thursday, Salas and his nephew Matt Teutimez, a tribal biologist, presented the first of what they hope will be a series of lectures in the greenhouse just outside the Newport Banning Ranch Land Trust offices to teach children about their tribe’s customs and heritage.
At the same time on the nearby Banning Ranch property, leaders of the Kizh Gabrieleño and Juaneño tribes, along with Newport Banning Ranch crews, were digging in several areas of the site that are planned for residential, retail and hotel development to determine whether the land contains artifacts or ancient burial grounds. The digging is expected to wrap up over the weekend.
If artifacts are found, the tribes will collect them.
However, if burial grounds are discovered, the bones would need to remain in the soil undisturbed, and the development plans likely would have to change, according to Ernie’s son Andy.
Andy Salas is one of several tribal members overseeing the digging. He said his tribe is in favor of the Banning Ranch building project, which proposes 895 homes, a 75-room hotel, a 20-bed hostel and 45,100 square feet of retail space on about 62 acres of the site. About 310 acres would be preserved as open space with public trails, while the remainder of the land would be used for parks and roads.
The open space preservation hinges on the California Coastal Commission approving the development proposal, according to the Land Trust, which serves as steward of the space that would be preserved.
Officials with developer Newport Banning Ranch LLC have floated the idea of creating an educational and cultural center on the site as a place for Native American rituals and artifacts.
“It’s a natural fit,” said George Bayse, vice president of Aera Energy, which owns half the land. “We’re really hoping there will be an exciting collaboration in the future between the Native American groups and the Land Trust.”
The fate of the property has sparked controversy over the years between some local environmental groups and advocates of the development.
The Banning Ranch Conservancy, which opposes the project, says the property contains valuable and sensitive habitat that must be protected under the state Coastal Act. The group has indicated a desire to purchase the property and maintain it as open space, but it has not raised enough money to do so.
Newport Banning Ranch originally proposed 1,375 homes, 75,000 square feet of retail space, a hostel and several parks on about 95 acres of Banning Ranch. That plan was approved by the Newport Beach City Council in 2012. However, the project has since been scaled back at the behest of the Coastal Commission, which has final say over development along California’s coast.
In November, Newport Banning Ranch sent the commission its current plan, for which commission staff recommended approval but included conditions that would further reduce the project’s footprint.
The developer decided to delay going before the commission for a vote in May, saying some issues remained unresolved and that it needed more time to review the staff’s proposal.
Most recently, Newport Banning Ranch asked Coastal Commission staff to ease some restrictions for the site to allow more space to build.
Andy Salas sent a letter to the Coastal Commission on Aug. 1 urging approval of the project, pointing to Newport Banning Ranch’s proposal to clean up oil operations on the land and open it to the public.
The commission is expected to consider the project in September.
“We’re here to stand up, protect and preserve the last areas that are left of our land,” Andy Salas said. “Who else is going to offer to clean the land and the soil? This plan might be the one shot for this to happen in our lifetime.”
