Tribal Leader Devotes Life to Love of the Land and Indian Heritage

Concern for the welfare of his people has Ralph Goff putting in double work shifts, rising before dawn to work a full day as a park ranger and then serving as tribal chairman of the Mission Indians well into the night.

Goff, a member of the Campo band of Mission Indians, considers his job as a park ranger for the San Diego County Parks and Recreation Department important, but it is his elected post as tribal chairman that has provided him with a purpose--fighting to get his people “a fair share of what’s out there” and to improve life on the Campo Indian Reservation.

“The two jobs are very similar in that I am dealing with people and helping them,” Goff said. “It’s just that I have a deeper involvement with my work at the reservation.”

The 46-year-old Goff, who received his vocational training in 1975 through the now defunct government-funded Comprehensive Employment and Training Act program, drives to work at Lake Morena before the sun rises “in order to be there for the fishermen.”

His duties include collecting camping and fishing fees, enforcing park rules, doing some maintenance work on facilities and acting as information officer to park visitors.

“He has a soothing effect on the public and the staff. He puts things softly, even when it bothers him,” said Gary Johnson, county Parks and Recreation district manager whose jurisdiction includes Lake Morena. Goff’s ability to work with the public is beneficial, because Lake Morena generates more revenue than any of the other 126 county recreation areas, Johnson said.

Working as tribal chairman does not seem to tire Goff or affect his job performance, Johnson said. “He’s a very able man who seems to have a natural empathy for people,” he said, adding that when Goff comes to him with a problem, he also usually suggests solutions.

Goff says being a park ranger is a good job. “I’m outdoors most of the time, which is nice because Indians like to be close to the land.”

Although it’s “not anything to get rich by,” his pay as a ranger allows him, his wife, 2-year-old son and two stepchildren to live comfortably. His only regret is not having gone to college after graduating from Mountain Empire Junior-Senior High School in Pine Valley in 1958. Unlike his brother and two sisters who left the reservation to seek a better life, Goff said he has never considered leaving.

“This is what I am, who I am. I grew up here as an Indian person and this land is a part of me,” Goff said recently as he worked in his sparsely furnished office at the reservation’s bare Community Center. Outside, teen-agers squirted each other with a hose to beat the afternoon heat.

Goff said he was elected tribal chairman in April, 1985, after the old administration lapsed into an “inactive period of time” after it had successfully obtained grants, built the Community Center and started a government housing project. He saw the election as his opportunity to help his people.

As tribal chairman he heads a seven-member executive council, which governs the reservation and its 150 residents.

“We have some say in our destiny,” said the soft-spokened Goff, who drives to the Community Center after a day’s work at the lake. He also can be found at the center on his days off, trying to come up with ways to help his people.

His belief in self-government was tested earlier this year when word got out to the neighboring communities in this impoverished southeastern corner of San Diego County that the council was considering allowing a hazardous-waste business on the reservation. The project would have meant eight full-time jobs, a $25,000 lease and as much as $200,000 in annual payments.

County officials objected and nearby communities started petition drives.

“We were approached by the company. We investigated it, but it didn’t materialize,” Goff said. He said that at the time he was disappointed by people trying to curb the council’s right to freedom of choice.

Goff sees his job as preserving a way of life by fostering much needed employment and economic development for the residents on the reservation. The reservation, about 15,000 acres of rough highlands that stretch from the Tecate Mountains south to the Mexican border, is one of the poorest reservations in Southern California.

“I want to be able to give our youth something to identify with, so they can be motivated to reach higher than what we have now,” Goff said, looking out a window at the arid reservation. “I want them to see something more out there than just a pile of rocks.”

Toward that end, Goff says he’s become an expert at filing grant applications.

“I know the money’s there,” Goff said. “The government’s got it. It’s just a matter of going through the paper work and getting it.”

He and the executive council also are considering enticing private businesses to develop reservation land or having the tribe make some investments in outside companies.

“I feel that if we have a base to build from, the rest will come in time,” Goff said, adding that when his term expires at the end of four years, he will not run for office again unless he’s accomplished “more than just getting the basic grants.”

Since he has been in office, there have been many improvements, said Barbara Cuero, council vice chairwoman. The reservation has joined a health care consortium made up of county reservations, youth and job training programs have been reactivated, and a few grants for housing projects have been received.

“He’s done a good job . . . but more needs to be done, such as more jobs for our people,” Cuero said.

Goff stressed that the Mission Indian tribe is not a desperate people. He said the tribe does not want to be dependent on anyone; it just wants a hand to get things started.

“It’s not all sorrow here. There’s a lot of happiness and willing people,” Goff said. “We may not be rich in money, but what we are rich in is people and culture.”